Reduction in health and social care services investment remark: FOI release

Information requested

Speaking at the SNP conference on 31st August 2024, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, Neil Gray, said this: “We have seen a reduction in investment in health and social care services south of the border – that means our block grant has been reduced.”

Please provide any information held by the Scottish Government which substantiates this remark.

Response

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, it is not known specifically what information the remark is being drawn on.

However, figures published alongside the UK budget in March and the latest GDP deflators show that, whilst there has been an increase in cash terms between 2023-24 and 2024-25 for health and social care, the DHSC budget is 0.2% lower in real terms in 2024-25 compared to 2023-24. This means that if UK Government spending on health decreases as a result of UK Government spending decisions, this has a consequential impact for Scotland.

Under the Barnett formula, the Scottish Government's block grant in any given financial year is adjusted for a population share of changes in funding for UK Government Departments on areas that are devolved to the Scottish Parliament, such as health.

For example, for every £100 million of reduced funding for healthcare in England, there is an impact of £9.67 million on Scotland’s budget since Scotland’s population is 9.67% of England’s. The block grant is impacted by departmental adjustments outwith health and overall the block grant has increased.

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