Government accused of breaking cash vow

The UK Government has “picked the pocket of the health service” in Scotland, with funding claimed to be £55 million lower than promised.

A “disappointed” Jeane Freeman told MSPs the UK’s budget allocation of the Barnett formula for health for 2019-20 had fallen short.

The Health Secretary said the Scottish Government has made up this shortfall, putting further strain on other parts of the budget.

She said: “The Scottish Government has passed on resource consequentials in full and provided an additional £55m.

“This reinstates the UK Government’s reduction and protects resources for our frontline services.”

The Cabinet Secretary agreed with a comment from George Adam MSP, who said: “It’s almost as if Westminster has picked the pocket of the health service to the tune of £55m.”

Ms Freeman added: “The money has to come from somewhere. It should have come from the UK Government because that was the commitment they made. They didn’t honour that commitment.”

The total spending on health and sport for the next year is forecast to be in excess of £14 billion, she told Holyrood’s health and sport committee, which “includes a further shift on the balance of spend towards mental health and to social and community care”.

Ms Freeman also told the committee the Scottish Government was using £392m to help reduce waiting times.

This year will also be the first when Scottish health boards will be able to spend more or less than their budget so long as they are balanced in three years.

Explaining the changes, Ms Freeman said: “In return for their efforts in delivering the reforms set out in the delivery plan and the financial framework, boards will be required to deliver a break-even position over a threeyear period, rather than annually, as is the case currently.