The Act Section 3: Suspension of provisions
32.Section 53 of the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 (“the 2010 Act”) provides that Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland (otherwise known as the Care Inspectorate) may inspect registered care services, and sets out the purpose of inspections. Paragraph 22 of schedule 1 of the Coronavirus (Scotland)(No.2) Act 2020 (care homes: inspections and reporting on coronavirus deaths) added section 53A to the 2010 Act, requiring that the Care Inspectorate must lay a report before Parliament every two weeks during the emergency period. The reports must set out which care home services it has inspected in the two week period as well as the findings of those inspections. Paragraph 23 of schedule 1 inserted section 79A into the 2010 Act which introduces new duties about the reporting of deaths in care homes services from or attributable to coronavirus. Section 79A(1) of the 2010 Act requires that care home service providers must provide certain information to the Care Inspectorate each day in relation to the numbers of deaths which have occurred in a care home service, whether caused by or attributable to coronavirus or not.
33.Section 3(1) of the Act suspends the operation of paragraphs 22 and 23 of schedule 1 of the Coronavirus (Scotland)(No.2) Act 2020. Section 3(2) provides that these provisions are to be treated as having been suspended under section 8(1)(a) of that Act meaning that they could be revived, if required, under section 8(1)(b) and (2) of that Act.