Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at on 23 February 2023.
Jackie Baillie
Labour
I am afraid that the First Minister’s Government is not on track, and Audit Scotland has said that the Government will miss the target of increasing GP head count by 800. However, it is worse than that, because whole-time equivalent GP numbers have decreased by 200 since 2013, which poses a serious threat to the recovery of primary care. At the same time, the number of patients who are registered with GPs has risen by more than 300,000, yet the SNP has cut £75 million from primary care and GP budgets this year. Does the First Minister not agree that, by slashing funding and failing to increase the number of GPs, the SNP is compounding the crisis in primary care and, ultimately, failing GPs and their patients?
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
