The Scottish government has turned down a request from the Scottish parliament's Finance and Public Administration Committee to provide updated financial information on the legislation to create a new national care service, with the social care minister also declining a request to give evidence to MSPs.

The Stage I debate on the National Care Services (Scotland) Bill was due to have taken place earlier this year but has been pushed back until the autumn to allow ministers to continue to consult on the plans through the summer.

Holyrood's Health, Social Care and Sport Committee – the lead committee scrutinising this legislation – is yet to publish its report on the general principles of the bill.

In an evidence session before the health committee yesterday, the new Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport, Marie Todd said government has to do a better job of explaining their plans, adding:

“I think this pause does offer us an opportunity to put a little bit more meat on the bones and for people to understand better what the ambition is and what the detail around that ambition is, and how it’s going to look.”

Another group of MSPs scrutinising the proposals, the Finance and Public Administration Committee, had given the government a deadline of the end of this week to update the financial memorandum accompanying the bill.

In a letter to the convener of that committee, Ms Todd says she appreciates that the committee wants to have more detail on the likely costs of the changes ahead of implementing a national care service, but won't be providing any new figures. In her letter to Kenneth Gibson MSP she states:

‘I welcome the Committee’s willingness to consider an update to the Financial Memorandum in order to address some of their concerns prior to the Stage 1 debate, but I do not wish to confuse matters by providing multiple versions.

‘It is highly likely that the discussions and engagement, with key partners and stakeholders, that are to take place over the summer will bring more certainty to some aspects of the NCS and enable us to provide more detail or to narrow some of the cost ranges in the Financial Memorandum.’

However, Ms Todd says she will commit to providing an update to the costings after the summer, at least four weeks ahead of the Stage I debate by the whole parliament on the legislation.

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