Question reference: S6W-26265
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 19 March 2024
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Current status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 15 April 2024
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on the Childsmile programme in each of the last five financial years, also broken down by NHS board area.
Answer
Childsmile funding is provided annually to Boards through i) the Outcomes Framework and ii) direct allocation from the General Dental Services (GDS) budget.
The Outcomes Framework is a single source of funding to NHS Boards which provides for local flexibility on resource allocation to deliver clearly defined outcomes. The Framework has a strong focus on delivering strategic priorities such as prevention and reducing health inequalities.
Following years of non-recurring funding, £72 million was provided to NHS Boards in 2023-24 on a recurring basis to deliver all Outcomes, including deliverables on Childsmile. Funding for individual components of the Outcomes Framework, including Childsmile, is not separately identifiable within the total allocation and therefore no meaningful disaggregation can be provided.
In addition to Outcomes Framework funding which is provided to every Board, some Boards also receive direct programme allocations from the GDS budget to support Childsmile activities on a national and/or regional basis. Allocations provided to these Boards are therefore not indicative of activity undertaken within the geographic location given the co-ordinating role they undertake, and have not been provided in breakdown although they are included in total programme allocation.
The total value of allocations associated with Childsmile in each of the last five financial years is set out in the following table:
Year | Programme Allocation (£m) | Total Outcomes Framework (£m) |
2019-20 | 2.3 | 62.9 |
2020-21 | 2.2 | 68.9 |
2021-22 | 1.4 | 74.1 |
2022-23 | 2.4 | 74.1 |
2023-24 | 2.7 | 72.2 |
From 2022-23, additional funding has been provided to all Territorial Boards and National Services Scotland to scale up Childsmile activity through the provision of additional toothbrushing packs and recruitment of additional Dental Health Support Workers. A breakdown of this funding by NHS Board for 2022-23 and 2023-24 is provided in the following table.
2022-23 funding (£) | 2023-24 funding (£) | |
NHS Ayrshire and Arran | 113,739 | 113,739 |
NHS Borders | 37,387 | 34,637 |
NHS Dumfries and Galloway | 38,963 | 38,963 |
NHS Fife | 98,984 | 88,834 |
NHS Forth Valley | 79,240 | 68,271 |
NHS Grampian | 108,700 | 90,338 |
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde | 475,008 | 475,008 |
NHS Highland | 62,647 | 53,203 |
NHS Lanarkshire | 226,952 | 213,812 |
NHS Lothian | 203,482 | 189,267 |
NHS Orkney | 21,068 | 18,068 |
NHS Shetland | 21,068 | 16,068 |
NHS Tayside | 99,509 | 92,338 |
NHS Western Isles | 21,067 | 20,867 |
National Services Scotland | 242,000 | 337,000 |
Total | 1,849,814 | 1,850,413 |