Implementation of Respiratory Care Action Plan: FOI release

Information requested

1. How much the Scottish Government has spent on implementing the Respiratory Care Action Plan since published in March 2021, with and without civil servant staffing costs, and broken down by financial quarter.

2. What costings the Scottish Government has forecast by a) quarter and b) year to implement the commitments of the Respiratory Care Action Plan.

Response

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested below.

The answer to your first question is:

Since the publication of the Respiratory Care Action Plan (RCAP) in March 2021, the Scottish Government has funded a Service Level Agreement (SLA) with NHS Tayside for the services of Prof Tom Fardon as Clinical Lead for the implementation of the RCAP. The total SLA spend is £20,552 as of the date of the request.

We have also provided funding to the Health & Social Care Alliance (the ALLIANCE) to establish a Respiratory Lived Experience Network. In financial year 2021/22, £19,957 was provided to the ALLIANCE with £26,400 being provided in financial year 22/23. The total funding provided to the ALLIANCE as of the date of the request is £46,357.

The Scottish Government is unable to quantify the cost of time spent by civil servants on the implementation of the RCAP. This is because the time spent by civil servants on the implementation of the Plan forms part of their overall day to day duties. Civil servants work on more than one policy area, there are four civil servants whose duties include working on respiratory policy development and they work at the following grades: B1; B2; B3 and C1. Salary scales for these roles can be found at the following link: Our Reward Benefits - Work For Scotland (work-for-scotland.org)

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide future spending projections on the implementation of the RCAP. This is because, officials are currently indiscussions with finance colleagues to agree future spend. However, a summary of progress to date on the implementation of the RCAP will be provided at the next meeting of the Scottish Respiratory Advisory Committee, which will include details on next steps and future spending commitments for agreement. We are therefore unable to provide any spending forecast for the next financial year at this time.

About FOI

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