The National Care Service is expected to be abolished

The Scottish Government is widely expected to abandon its flagship plan for a national care service.

Social Care Minister Mary Todd will update Holyrood on the future of the proposals at a later date.

The original plan was to transfer social care responsibility from councils to a new national board.

However the proposals have already been delayed several times and do not have enough support to pass in Parliament.

A source told BBC Scotland that an advisory board would be set up, allowing some small reforms to the National Care Service Bill to be legislated.

Former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon described the plans for the National Care Service as the most ambitious reform since its announcement in 2021.

Ministers said the NHS-inspired service would eliminate the “postcode lottery” in care provision and ensure “consistently high-quality care”.

But opposition parties have repeatedly questioned whether the Scottish Government can set up and manage the service effectively.

council body kosla and Trade unions have withdrawn their support from the projectWhile many health boards and care organizations have also expressed serious concerns.

The Scottish Greens also withdrew their support in October last yearWhich meant the SNP no longer had enough support to get the measure through Holyrood.

When the plans were further delayed in November, First Minister John Swinney said more time was needed to consider ideas and “get the proposals right”.

However, Swinney dodged a question about whether the government would formally scrap the plan ahead of this week’s statement.

He further said that although there was consensus that social care needed to be reformed, “there was not consensus about how we would do it”.

Todd previously said she was “fully committed” to the plans after the latest delays were announced.

Health Secretary Neil Gray said Plans “delayed, not finished”,

Rachel Cackett, chief executive of the Care and Support Providers Coalition, said she now hoped “significant” sections of the bill would be removed in the latest announcement.

he told the bbc good morning scotland Programme: “The main part of the bill was to implement the recommendations made during Covid when everyone was clapping for social care.

“This is a bill that was intended to improve the support people get every day in their homes and in their communities.

“What we have got is a bill that needs work, where the right people were not talked to at the right time and in fact we have now got into the politics of a government that is almost at the end of its term. “Trying to do some big reform in a year, no government ever wants that.”

Some minor reforms retain support in Holyrood and could be passed in a separate version of the bill.

Anne’s Law, which would allow people in care homes to visit a designated love person even in restricted measures, is expected to be passed as part of the proposed legislation.

It is named Anne DukeWho died in November 2021 at the age of 63 after being cut off from his family while battling early dementia during the Covid pandemic.

His family has campaigned for the law to be changed, which will be included in the national standards in March 2022.

A proposal for a national social work agency to provide a national standard for that area of ​​care is also expected to be passed.

The right to breaks for unpaid carers and new rules for sharing information across the care system between health and social care are also expected to remain in the bill.