Emergency Budget Review reprioritising £116m from COVID-19 spending: FOI release

Information requested

In the Emergency Budget Review, the Scottish Government states it is reprioritising £116m from COVID-19 spending, specifically "A range of actions relating to COVID expenditure on vaccinations, test and protect, PPE and additional capacity to drive down additional costs."

Please set out exactly what actions are being taken and the specific saving/monetary value associated with each action.

Response

Reduced prevalence and hospitalisation rates resulted in an easing of the previous infection and prevention control measures which has, in turn, contributed to a reduction in expenditure levels.

The following table presents the range of actions relating to vaccinations, test and protect, PPE and additional capacity to drive down COVID-19 costs.

COVID spend category	Actions to reduce COVID-19 expenditure	Savings £M
Test and Protect	Reductions in Board level testing. Pause in asymptomatic testing. Reduced laboratory testing capacity requirements. LFD testing policy changes. National contact centre reduced opening hours.	48.6
Vaccinations	Improvements in vaccination delivery rates. Reductions in external venue hire. Reductions in high cost workforce to administer vaccinations.	26.3
PPE	Reduced purchase price for high volume use PPE items. Utilisation of existing PPE stock levels. Reduced PPE demand as a consequence of infection prevention and control policy changes.	11.7
Additional capacity	Reduced additional hospital capacity and workforce hours required to manage COVID patients.	29.4
TOTAL		116.0

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