3. To ask the Scottish Government what the priorities are for the health budget in 2015-16. (S4O-03703)

The 2020 vision for health and social care sets out the Scottish Government’s vision that by 2020 everyone will be able to live longer, healthier lives at home or in a homely setting. The 2020 vision provides a focus for the priorities for the health budget in 2015-16, with three central aims: improving the quality of the care that we provide; improving the health of the population; and securing the value and financial sustainability of health and care services.

Is the 2015-16 health and wellbeing budget lower in real terms than the budgets in 2012-13 and 2013-14?

As the member knows, we have passed on every penny that has been passed on to us for revenue spending in the health service. On top of doing that, we announced when Mr Swinney announced his budget a few weeks ago that we are putting an extra £80 million into the health budget for next year.

On the capital side, despite the massive cuts to our capital budget—25 per cent overall—that Westminster has made, the notional value on an annualised basis of the non-profit-distributing and hub projects for next year is more than £300 million.

By any stretch of the imagination, given the very tight budget that we are working to, we are devoting every penny available to our national health service.

How much additional funding would the Scottish Government have had for the health budget’s spending priorities in 2015-16 had the United Kingdom Government not reneged on the 1 per cent pay deal for NHS staff in England?

We estimate that, had the Treasury allocated additional funding to the Department of Health to support the 1 per cent pay deal—which it did not implement south of the border, of course—there would have been additional spend of £300 million in England. The Barnett consequentials for health in Scotland would have been just under £30 million, which would have been a substantial additional contribution to improving healthcare in Scotland next year.