Thank you, convener, for your flexibility in accommodating my attendance. As members know, last week’s events and announcements required reprioritisation of time. I thank Joe FitzPatrick for attending last week’s meeting and answering the committee’s questions, in my place.
Before I go further, I give my sincerest thanks to all our NHS and social care staff for the considerable amount of work that they have done, and continue to do, to meet the challenge of the pandemic.
In recent years, we have tried to put our health services on the strongest possible footing, but we need to go further in order to embed a world-class public health system, and we need to sharpen our focus on population health. The pandemic has demonstrated the positive changes that we can make to how and where we deliver healthcare, which we must lock in. By accelerating the transition to a new model of community NHS care, and supporting digitisation of services through facilities such as NHS Near Me, we can ensure that people receive the right care, in the right place and at the right time.
I turn to funding for our health and social care services. While the pandemic has had a massive human cost, it has also come with significant financial implications for our front-line services. It is essential that we have funding in place to meet additional Covid costs. The Government has acted quickly to put in place the necessary infrastructure to support rapid decision making and approval of spend, which is balanced by due governance of public spending.
We agreed to provide initial funding of up to £100 million to ensure sustainability of social care services, and I made it clear to the committee that we would provide the necessary funding across health and social care following the conclusion of our detailed quarter 1 review of expenditure. Now that that review has concluded, I have confirmed this morning to Parliament and the convener that we are making available £1.1 billion for NHS boards and integration authorities. That will provide boards and integration authorities with funding for additional Covid expenditure that has been incurred, and with funding that is necessary for the coming months, including support for remobilisation, social care, our NHS test and protect programme, personal protective equipment and hospital staffing levels. My officials have worked closely with NHS boards, integration authorities and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities to review the financial implications and to develop the most appropriate funding approach for our health and social care services.
In making the funding available, I will make clear two important points. First, I recognise that Covid costs have had significantly disproportionate impacts on some areas. Our funding takes account of the disproportionate impacts, although we also recognise the need to distribute resource equitably and transparently. I acknowledge that some boards and integration authorities will require support beyond the level that has been confirmed today. I will consider all such requests carefully and will expect them to be properly evidenced.
Secondly, in making today’s funding announcement, I confirm that we will undertake a further substantive funding allocation in January. That will provide the opportunity for us to understand better the implications of Covid across the sector for the remainder of the financial year, and it will ensure that our front-line services continue to have the funding that they require.
On pre-budget scrutiny for 2021-22, it is essential—as, I am sure, the committee will agree—that our health and social care services have the funding certainty that they need for this and future years. As my colleague Kate Forbes made clear last week, achievement of that is being made additionally difficult by the unacceptable position of the Scottish Government and other devolved Administrations in again facing a delayed UK budget. The Scottish budget envelope is tied to the UK block grant and is set by the UK budget and tax policy, so a delayed UK budget creates huge uncertainties for the Scottish budget and our NHS and social care. It is impossible to plan with certainty without that information.
I can assure you, convener, that I will continue to do everything that I can to support our front-line services, to ensure that the necessary funding is provided throughout the pandemic, and to support delivery of a world-class public health system. We have announced £1.1 billion of funding today and have committed to a further substantial funding allocation in January. I hope that the UK Government quickly changes its position, so that in January we can provide our NHS and integration authorities with the certainty that they need for next year and beyond.
All that being said, convener, I am happy to take any questions that you or committee members might have. If I may, I will call on my colleague Richard McCallum for any detail that I might not have immediately to hand.