 Y dyma ymddangos ar yr ydym, yn y ffrall yn Ymddangos i'r Cymru yng Nghymru, yn gwybod bwysig yn arwyfodol y dyma, o'r cyfriflosio am alcohol i'r cyfriflesio. Ond yw'r model ymddangos i'r cyfriflesio, yn y cyfriflesio, yn y cyfriflesio mewn cyfriflesio. ac, mwyaf, rydyn ni ar gynllun yn y cwmper, rydyn ni'n rwyf, 10-3-2-4, a yw'r mu'n G étéch, rydyn ni'n gweithio i'r Ffathrych, rydyn ni'n gweithio i'r li. Rydyn ni'n gweithio i'n gweithio i'r rydyn ni'n gweithio i'r li. Rydyn ni'n gweithio i'r busnes, ac rydyn ni'n gweithio i'r bobl, Dwilegio Richard Simpson. To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that people with motor neuroand disease are not charged for care. Cabinet Secretary, Alex Neill, The Scottish Government is clear that people who are terminally ill should not charged for care at home. We are working closely with Costla's Charging Guidance group to ensure that this is the case for anyone in Scotland and that there is consistency across all local authorities. We want to ensure that everyone who requires care has access to the highest standards of care in every setting, their own home or a care home. That's why we're integrating health and social care to provide a more responsive and joined up service for all those who require care. Richard Simpson. I thank the cabinet secretary for his answer, but don't we have a pattern here? If you're in a hospice or in a hospital, terminal care is undoubtedly free without question. In the community there is currently a postcode lottery of charging which has been exposed by the recent motor neuron disease survey. Because there is no clarity in existing guidance as to what constitutes terminal care, a lottery made even more unfair by differences for different age groups. With all these dividing lines making it worse, would he agree with me that South Ayrshire's definition is especially problematic? Isn't it a requirement to determine when someone has four weeks to live before they get free support, simply unacceptable? As a doctor, I could not make such an arbitrary judgment, so will he establish that clarity with COSLA rapidly? Can he give us a timetable for when it will be issued and what monitoring will then take place to ensure that all those with terminal care receive the care that he and I would both wish them to have? First of all, I'll gently correct the member. I think that he's referring to East Ayrshire and not to South Ayrshire. However, in terms of the general gist of his remarks, I agree with, I think that there's far too wide variation between councils in how this policy is being applied. The member will remember, going away back to 2002, the then administration and we have carried on with the policy, rather than lay down central charging and do so by statute or secondary legislation, that it was agreed that COSLA would work with councils to try to get as consistent approach as possible. I've made it absolutely clear to COSLA that I am not happy with the current situation in terms of how terminally ill people are charged and the wide variations between different councils, as highlighted by the situation in East Ayrshire, as quoted by the member. COSLA are working at it through their charge guidance group, but it will make it absolutely clear that, if agreement cannot be reached and if we cannot get the problem tackled on a voluntary basis by councils, I am prepared to use what reserve powers I've got in order to ensure that it is. The current situation, I don't think, is acceptable. Can I welcome the further elucidation by the cabinet secretary and his correction? I apologise to South Ayrshire for that regard, but isn't the situation actually going to get worse, despite his undertaking to take reserve powers if necessary? Currently in England, there are 59,000 fully funded NHS continuing care patients, and that includes people who are terminally ill. These are patients only in the community. Continuing care in England only applies to the community. In Scotland, we only have 400 currently and not 5,000 as it would occur if the criteria were the same as in England. Does the cabinet secretary not recognise that, actually, with what is going to be introduced in April 2015 and with the increasing anomalies, which really cannot be fixed by a review here on an agreement there, the MND survey has really exposed on other of those. Don't we really now need to seriously, as all parties, consider a major rethink when we're joining health and social care as to how we're funding the whole system? First of all, I caution against direct comparisons with South of the border because, obviously, South of the border does not have free personal care, and about 77,000 people in Scotland benefit from free personal care, which this Parliament endorsed unanimously. Secondly, as part of the extension of the review of residential care services, I've agreed with COSLA to extend the remit of the working party who carried out the review of residential care to now carry out a review of all aspects of care at home, because there are a number of issues, including the charging of terminally ill patients, which require modernisation and a simpler method and one that's more consistent, so we do not have a postcode lottery across the country, and it's looking also at issues like 15-minute visits and so on. I absolutely agree that we need a very clear residential care strategy and care at home strategy, both of which relate to each other, and that we need to have that agreed before the formal start date for integration of adult health and social care on a statutory basis from 1 April next year, and ourselves and COSLA are working towards that objective. Christina McKelvie Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Macmillan Cancer Support this week revealed the results of a survey that showed the unacceptable waiting times for UK Government's new personal independence payments for people with cancer and the impact that this has on their wellbeing. Does the minister share my concern that people with motor neuron disease may also be facing unacceptable delays in receiving those payments, and will the Scottish Government approach the UK Government and ask them to halt the further roll-out of personal independent payment, a benefit that is causing significant anxiety among claimants? Let's not forget that Lord Freud, who was appointed by Tony Blair, brought about this and is continuing this. Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport, it is clear that the UK Government's cuts and changes to the welfare system, including the change from disability living allowance to personal independence payment, are causing significant anxiety and distress to people in Scotland. It is completely unacceptable that some of the most vulnerable in our society are not getting the support that they need. I believe that the solution is for the Scottish Parliament to have control over welfare matters. We have made it clear through the white paper that, if we elected the First Government of an independent Scotland, we will halt the further roll-out of personal independent payments. That will allow the First Government of an independent Scotland to design a welfare system to meet Scotland's needs. I find it deeply concerning. I agree with what has been said already about what is happening to patients with NND. Clearly, from what the cabinet secretary says, this would be applying to other patients with terminal conditions across the board. Would the cabinet secretary consider hosting a summit meeting and bringing all-interested parties together, of course, but to individual councils perhaps, to really get thrash this out and to really seriously try to get something done about it? I'd be more than happy to convene such a meeting, but I think that the appropriate time to do that is once the working party, which is not just including the Scottish Government in COSLA. It includes Scottish Care, the independent sector, and it includes third sector representatives as well, and it includes users groups as well. I think that it is the appropriate body to work out a set of recommendations on the way forward. I'd be more than happy to host whatever meeting we require to try to build a consensus in this area because it is in the interests of everybody that we try to get a consensus on charging policy throughout the country and within the chamber. I welcome the cabinet secretary's acknowledgement that there has been a disgraceful anomaly existing here and that he will take steps to ensure uniformity across the country about all local authorities. I do not think that any of us want a situation where a charity has to reveal that some local authorities are refusing to fund personal care for Scots. Will the cabinet secretary promise to ensure that no terminal patient who requires personal care will ever have to pay for it again? Will he also commit in the review just to ensure that we know how many patients have been affected by the refusal of local authorities to pay for personal care? Will he also investigate possible compensation packages for those families affected and perhaps those who have already paid out? Those are primary issues for the working party to look into and to try and quantify the scale of the issue, both in relation to the number of recipients, actual and forecast number of recipients for future years, as well as to look at the forecast costs and the funding arrangements for future charging policy. We should make a clear distinction between the formal policy of free personal care, which at the moment applies to over 65-year-olds, and the policy of waiving charges, which applies to under 65-year-olds who do not qualify for free personal care, although, obviously, people who are terminally ill qualify for free personal care in the formal sense as well. It is the application of that policy, which has been the subject of most controversy, around the very useful survey that was carried out by MND Scotland. We should all take that to heart and have it as our objective to make sure that, by the time that we get to the integration of adult health and social care, we have a more sane regime and a more consistent regime and a fair regime for all charging policy in relation to all aspects of social care throughout Scotland. Many thanks. That concludes that item of business. We will now turn to the next item of business. I will allow a few seconds for members to change places.