COSLA's Health and Social Care Board meet regularly to discuss key issues in this area impacting our councils and communities. Here we'll hear from the Health and Social Care Spokesperson, Councillor Paul Kelly, who Chairs the Board, and our Health and Social Care Policy Team, about this month's board meeting.

At the first meeting of 2025 for the COSLA Health and Social Care Board, members heard a presentation from Scottish Government on the Population Health Framework. This is a significant piece of work that is taking a cross-government and cross-sector approach to improve the key building blocks of health and wellbeing in Scotland.

Other key policies and proposals considered by the Board included updates to non-residential charging guidance, the development of a COSLA manifesto, and written evidence on the Right to Addiction Recovery (Scotland) Bill.

Reflecting on the meeting, Councillor Paul Kelly said:

“The first Board meeting always sets the tone for the year and it was great to begin 2025 with such productive and action-focused discussions. This is an especially important year for social care, and I welcome the commitment that members continue to express on supporting the reform and improvement of social care across all spheres of government.

I was also pleased to secure agreement to the Non-residential charging guidance for 2025/26. This guidance supports local authorities to develop consistent local charging policies and so is an important mechanism in ensuring that service users receive fair and equitable care wherever they are in the country, while allowing for legitimate variation according to local need.”

Learn more about  our governance structures and how decisions are made at COSLA here.