Scottish Budget Negotiations

MSPs will begin thrashing out a Scottish budget deal for the year ahead at Holyrood this afternoon.

Finance Secretary John Swinney has pledged to invest more than £12 billion in the NHS, that's an increase of £380 million.

The funding increase for health will exceed the Barnett consequentials received from health consequentials in England.

Mr Swinney said:

"Spending on Scotland's health service will increase in real terms next year, taking Scottish health spending above £12 billion for the first time.

"The overall increase of £380 million in health resource spending will take the total health budget to record levels.

"The Scottish Government's commitment to increase the NHS budget demonstrates a continuing commitment to protecting the health service, and keep it in public hands.

"This budget demonstrates that we are determined to keep the NHS in public hands and totally reject the drive towards privatisation being forced on NHS England by Westminster. It shows that we are determined to reward our hard-working NHS staff, with a modest pay rise and a living wage guarantee, both of which the UK Government are not delivering south of the Border.

"I am proud that we are investing more in the integration of health and social care. This the right thing to do as our health service faces the challenges of the future and is evolving to meet the changing needs of the people of Scotland."

Mr Swinney will also set out revised tax rates for the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax which come into force on April 1 2015.

In a letter sent to the Deputy First Minister in advance of today's statement, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie put NHS spending, mental health, childcare and colleges at the heart of his calls for a stronger economy and a fairer society:

"One aspect of that will be to continue our argument in favour of better provision for the treatment of those suffering from mental ill health. In England, mental illness has now been placed on the same statutory basis as physical illness. We hope to persuade the Scottish Government to legislate in a similar way. While that is happening we argue for the expansion in the diagnosis and treatment for those with mental illness. You will have seen that this has become a severe problem for young people who require urgent help and find that there is often no appropriate provision to meet their needs. This has to change.

"You have received consequentials for the NHS from an increase in resources to the NHS in England, which were successfully argued for by my colleagues in Westminster. I also believe that the Scottish Government is likely to get further new money paid to it through the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme. The UK Government expects the sums raised from that to increase from £454m in 2014-15 to £995m in 2015-16.

"The opportunity should be considered, for instance, to use these additional resources to provide access to more psychological therapies – including 'talking therapies' - and other interventions to treat mental illness. You will know the enormous costs of medicines used to help patients. Psychological therapies have proved to be effective treatment. They help people get back into work and to achieve their potential.

"For the coming year we would also hope to persuade you to increase free childcare provision for two year olds. The proportion of youngsters in Scotland who benefit from this still lags some way behind similar provision in England.  Without the steps we jointly agreed last year, the provision in Scotland would have remained negligible. The opportunity exists to enshrine that consensus and expand provision. It is in the best interests of a fairer society for us to ensure that children from all backgrounds get the best start in life. That means taking seriously the attainment gap that blights the futures of children from poorer backgrounds and which can be tackled by early, high quality, childcare provision.

"My colleagues remain concerned that the college sector in Scotland still struggles to maintain services. Its budget has still not recovered from the hit it took in your Budget Act a few years ago. College places are still being lost. Indeed, in an area I know well, Fife College provision at the Elmwood Campus is being earmarked for closure.

"For higher education students, we think the opportunity exists to help graduates by increasing the threshold for student loan repayments. Liam McArthur has discussed this point at the Education Committee. The Scottish Government has substantial Resource Accounting provision to provide for the future costs of student loans. This support has been subject to the Barnett Formula and so reflects the more generous starting threshold in place for graduates in England."