89.Section 31 requires the Scottish Ministers to periodically report on the state of the market for social care services in Scotland.
90.The phrase “social care services” for this purpose is defined in subsection (3). Subsection (5) gives the Scottish Ministers a power to change the definition by regulations. Such regulations will be subject to the affirmative procedure (see section 38) and, according to the terms of subsection (5) itself, are to effect any change by modifying section 31.
91.Section 32 is connected to section 31. It allows the Scottish Ministers to require persons to provide them with the information that they will need in order to prepare reports under section 31 (for example, information about the profits being made by service providers). If a person does not comply with a requirement to supply information imposed under section 32, and has no reasonable excuse for that, the Scottish Ministers can report the failure to the Court of Session. Relatedly, the Scottish Ministers can report a suspicion that information has been deliberately destroyed or altered following the Ministers’ requesting it. The Court has the power to make an order for compliance with the Ministers’ request, and additionally (or alternatively) the Court can sanction the failure to comply with the Ministers’ request, or the destruction or alteration of the information, as though that were itself a contempt of court.
Overview of the Act Overview of Part 2 Market monitoring