4. To ask the Scottish Government from which part of its budget the additional £300 million pledged for the national health service will be allocated. (S6O-02760)

The new funding of £300 million that the First Minister announced in October aims to help to reduce in-patient and day-case waiting lists by an estimated 100,000 patients over three years. That investment is subject to the outcome of the Scottish budget process for 2024-25 and future years, as well as associated approval by the Scottish Parliament.

It is deeply disappointing that the Chancellor of the Exchequer has failed to provide in the autumn statement the funding that devolved Governments need. That makes the challenges for our budget next year even more severe, including those for the NHS.

I declare an interest as a practising NHS general practitioner.

That was not an answer, cabinet secretary; it was just a rehashing of a statement. I ask again where the money will be allocated from. Will you not have to make substantial cuts to services such as mental health provision, from which you have already cut £30 million this year?

The Deputy Presiding Officer:

I remind all members that they need to speak through the chair.

Let us talk about substantial cuts. The Treasury documents that were published today show no noticeable investment in public services, including the NHS, which results in minimal consequentials for Scotland’s NHS. There will be less than £11 million for the NHS in 2024-25, compared with £367 million in last year’s autumn statement.

Those choices of Sandesh Gulhane’s Government will have devastating consequences for every part of our public services in Scotland. He should hang his head in shame for coming to the chamber and asking us about funding for the NHS when his chancellor has deprioritised it for all to see. Today of all days, I will take no lectures from the Tories on funding for the NHS.

Will the cabinet secretary confirm that all capital spending plans for the financing of the Scottish Government’s programme of national treatment centres will be delivered by the end of the parliamentary session, as committed to in its NHS recovery plan?

I have said that, when we set out the budget on 19 December, we will set out alongside that the revisions that will need to be made to the infrastructure investment plan. With the capital cuts that are coming from the UK Government, which were announced and confirmed today, there will be a 7 per cent reduction in our capital spending availability. The chancellor announced hardly anything for capital. That cannot have no impact on our capital spending and infrastructure investment, so we will have some challenging decisions to make when we present the choices that we are making and the priorities that we will take forward. I will set those out alongside the budget on 19 December.

The cabinet secretary will have seen that NHS Fife has already built up a £10.9 million deficit in the first few months of the financial year. The chair of that NHS board is pessimistic about whether costs can be recovered without damaging front-line services. What will the cabinet secretary do to stop the cuts to front-line services that could result from that?

The Government has always tried to prioritise funding for the NHS. I will not deny or dismiss the pressures that have arisen for our NHS in trying to deal with the Covid backlog, pay pressures and the cost of medicines. All of that heaps pressure on our NHS boards. However, surely—today of all days—Willie Rennie will join me in condemning the chancellor and the UK Government for giving only £11 million of consequentials for the NHS next year. That is all that the NHS will get next year, compared with the £367 million that was announced for the NHS in last year’s autumn statement. That shows a hollowing out of funding for NHS England and, as a consequence, NHS Scotland.

I do not know why Willie Rennie is shaking his head. Those are the facts. I have the figures from the Treasury reports—

The Deputy Presiding Officer:

Cabinet secretary, I will need to move on to the next question.

Surely he should join us in condemning the chancellor and—

The Deputy Presiding Officer:

I call Clare Adamson.