Chamber and committees

In line with previous years, a range of economic factors will be considered, including affordability and the cost of living. We will also consider the views of stakeholders and will ask both employers and staff representatives to provide feedback on the current pay policy and what options should be assessed for future pay policies.

Our planning process will be underpinned by a progressive approach to pay that will support our economy, tackle inequality and demonstrate our commitment to investing in quality public services.

Staffing levels within NHS Grampian have increased by 7.1% under this Government, rising from 11,203.3 WTE in September 2006 to 11,994.6 WTE in September 2017. While there has been a slight decrease in the NHS Grampian workforce, down 0.4%, in the last year, we are confident the steps we are taking to improve workforce planning arrangements will directly benefit NHS Grampian, its workforce and patients.

Under this Government NHS Grampian’s resource budget has increased in cash terms by £337.1 million (57.8%). In 2018-19 the Board will receive a baseline uplift of £18.5 million, which amounts to the highest percentage uplift of any Territorial Board, and a share of £175 million to support reform.

NHS Grampian’s baseline uplift for 2018-19 includes additional NRAC parity funding of £5.0 million. The Scottish Government has invested significantly in supporting those Boards, including NHS Grampian, which have historically been behind parity and, in 2018-19, no Board will be further than 0.8% behind parity.

As set out in response to S5W-13229 on 9 January 2018, the NRAC formula reflects the most objective measure of funding equity we have developed.

As announced in the Draft Budget on 14 December, the Health and Sport resource budget will increase by over £400 million to £13.1 billion in 2018-19. We have prioritised investment in frontline services, and total additional funding for our frontline NHS Boards will amount to £354 million. These increases have only been made possible, without impacting on other public services, through the progressive tax policies set out in the Draft Budget.

Our estimate is that Conservative tax policies would have resulted in a reduction in the Scottish Government’s resource budget of £501 million in 2018-19.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

We expect all Health Boards, including NHS Grampian, to ensure all patients are seen within the required treatment time. However, we do recognise that during winter when Health Boards are experiencing winter pressures in relation to emergency care, that it is not uncommon to reduce the level of activity, particularly over the festive period. Nonetheless, we are clear that we expect all clinical priority patients to be see regardless of pressures impacting on the system.

NHS Grampian has assured the Scottish Government that it is seeing all clinical priority patients regardless of the category. And, to support all categories of patients to be seen within the required time, NHS Grampian has increased its theatre activity in the last Quarter by opening up additional theatre sessions across its Boards area.

The Scottish Government continues to monitor the progress NHS Grampian is making to ensure patients are being prioritised for surgery accordingly, as happens every year across all sites in Scotland.

Improving the education and life chances of our children and young people is the defining mission of this Government and there is a collective responsibility to ensure continuous improvement in every school in Scotland. The latest exam results demonstrate real strength in our education system, with more than 150,000 Higher passes and nearly 60,000 skills-based awards and achievements. These show that many young people are leaving school with a greater range of qualifications, skills-based awards and achievements under Curriculum for Excellence.

We have committed £750m during the course of this Parliament through the Attainment Scotland Fund to provide targeted support for children, schools and communities to improve attainment and close the poverty related attainment gap.

Seven schools in Aberdeen are participating in the Attainment Challenge Schools Programme and have been allocated £598k in 2017-18. Further to this, schools in Aberdeen are benefiting from £2.7m of Pupil Equity Funding this financial year.

The Scottish Government has invested significantly to develop the mental health services and increase staffing numbers in post. We have announced an additional £150 million for mental health services over next five years to help to bring down waiting times and deliver sustainable improvement to services. This includes a £54 million comprehensive package of support to improve access to mental health services for adults and children, which will provide funding for additional staff, for workforce development and for in-depth improvement support to local services.

In this second year of these five years funding has been awarded to Boards across Scotland to build capacity within mental health services, including an allocation of £675,602 for NHS Grampian and a further £6.1 m has been awarded through NHS Education Scotland across Scotland to provide each Board an individual, tailored offer of funding and workforce development.

Through this substantial funding award we will be able to extend capacity, improve access to services and promote innovation and new ways of treating children and young people with mental health conditions as well as psychological therapies for all ages.

The 2018-19 local government finance settlement foresees an increase both in revenue and capital investment as part of a wider package of measures. Together with the additional power to increase Council Tax (worth around £77 million next year), this will generate a real terms increase in the overall resources available.

The impact of this settlement on public satisfaction with local services will depend on how local authorities allocate the total resources available to them and the level of service they then provide.

The decision was taken to maximise infrastructure investment in 2018-19, with the associated beneficial economic impact by borrowing up to the £450m limit. Decisions on future borrowing levels will be taken as part of the 2019-20 and subsequent budget processes.

The affordability and sustainability of all Scottish Government long term revenue commitments, including repayment of debt stock, are assessed through the budget process and are kept within a maximum of 5% of the total annual budget available. Decisions on the repayment of loan stock are taken on the basis of an assessment of value for money at the time of drawdown. The Scottish Fiscal Commission has assessed the reasonableness of the Scottish Government projections of borrowing in their economic forecasts.

The Scottish Government has taken a progressive approach in our pay policy, delivering a 3% increase to all those earning up to £30,000; a limit of 2% on the increase in paybill for those earning between £30,000 and £80,000; and limiting the maximum pay increase for those earning above £80,000 to £1,600.

The policy also provides the flexibility for individual employers to use their discretion to reach decisions on pay progression and is underpinned by a commitment to pay the real Living Wage. We have also re-affirmed our unique position on no compulsory redundancy which is protecting public sector jobs and front line services.

While this is a one year pay policy, it sets an important direction of travel and, subject to available resources, we will aim to deliver a pay policy in future years that strikes the balance between affordability and offering a fair deal for staff.

Council tax is a local tax and therefore the rate in each local authority area is decided by each Council. Councils may choose to increase the tax rate in their area by up to 3%. This flexibility will potentially generate an additional £77 million for public services across Scotland whilst protecting household incomes.

Creative Scotland has started implementation of the Screen Unit Blueprint, which I approved and was published on
11 December. The plan to deliver a Screen Unit within Creative Scotland was developed in partnership with our enterprise and skills agencies. The Scottish Government has shown its commitment to the screen sector by doubling investment in development, production and growth next financial year.