Other Board Services and Miscellaneous Income savings: FOI release

Information requested

“Of the £19.6 million cut from ‘Other Board Services and Miscellaneous Income’ – what services , programmes, funds or initiatives were impacted by these cuts. Please state what this money was originally meant to fund when the 2024-25 budget was set out back in December 2023 and which of these services/programmes/funds etc. are no longer going ahead due to these cuts.”

Response

The £19.6 million cut from ‘Other Board Services and Miscellaneous Income’ is broken down as follows:

Directorate	Division	Fiscal Statement Level 3	Budget name	Title of spend	Total Savings (£)
Population Health	Public Health Capabilities	COVID-19 funding and other services	Flu Vaccine Covid Vaccine	Flu Vaccine Covid Vaccine	£8,200,000
Population Health	PH Resilience & Protection	COVID-19 funding and other services	Test & Protect	Covid Testing	£3,300,000
Health & Social Care Finance	COVID-19 funding and other services	COVID-19 funding and other services	PPE	PPE	£8,000,000

Regarding the savings in vaccination spending (£8.2m), this accounts for the reduction in eligible cohorts for the Covid-19 programme in 2024/25, as advised by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). As we moved out of the pandemic period Scottish Government has also removed the flu groups we chose to add to the programme during the pandemic for winter 2024/25, notably those aged 50-64. We have subsequently returned to JCVI-advised flu cohorts. Savings therefore reflect reduced delivery costs and the purchase of fewer vaccines. Scottish Government policy remains to offer vaccination to all those recommended as eligible by the JCVI.

Following finalisation of 2023-24 costs, savings have also been made through operational efficiencies and revised assumptions on stock requiring to be purchased within the financial year. This has reduced anticipated PPE and test and protect funding requirements for 2024-25

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