Question reference: S6W-26029
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 7 March 2024
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Current status: Answered by Neil Gray on 15 March 2024
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether the £237.5 million of Barnett consequential funding arising from the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Budget statement on 6 March 2024, as a result of the NHS productivity plan, will all be spent on the NHS in Scotland.
Answer
HM Treasury’s costing for the NHS productivity plan shows funding starting in 2025-26. Therefore no consequentials are expected in 2024-25 in relation to the plan, and the position is only expected to become clear at the next UK spending review.
The Health consequentials of £237 million for 2024-25 arising from the Chancellor’s Spring Statement are less than the £470 million in-year Health funding received for 2023-24 and less than is needed given the pressures faced.
While we are considering the outcome of the UK budget and what it means for NHS Scotland we are committed to passing on frontline health consequentials and have indeed gone further than consequentials in our investment in this budget.