Questions concerning the NHS bonus scheme funding and UK funding: FOI release

Information requested

Please provide me with the details of were the money came from to fund the £500 bonus recently announced by the Scottish Government.

1. Did it come via UK consequential's meant for business loans or grants ?

2. Did it Come from UK consequentials meant for NHS covid related requirements?

3. Can you pinpoint directly for me how this was funded ?

4. If it is from NHS own budgets can you tell me if this has been diverted from other areas within the NHS?

5. Further can you tell me how much funds from UK consequentials are laying unused , from all areas business loans , grants, extra council funding or charity funding , just the total of any unused additional funding with a breakdown to which department it was due for and how much is left ?

6. Also of all the funds provided from UK consequentials can you provide a breakdown of how much funding went to each department and how much was diverted to other departments.?

7. Finally since 2016 the FM has instructed civil servants to instigate measures to prepare for a second referendum on independence , can you inform how much the Scottish government has spent in each and all of the years to prepare for this .?

Response

1,2,3 & 4. The Scottish Government has been provided with £8.2 billion of Covid consequential support, which is allocated in Scotland according to need. The non-consolidated bonus has been funded from these consequentials via the overarching health allocation. Necessary funding is being made available to NHS Boards.

5, 6. To date, the UK Government has indicated that it will allocate £8.2 billion of additional funding. The allocations for this funding have been set out in Budget Revisions and a letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Finance to the Finance and Constitution Committee. This letter illustrates that circa £330 million of funding has been allocated as contingency due to the nature of the Covid-19 outbreak, the potential asks for further demand led spend with regards strategic framework support for business in Scotland and additional demands on health, and the requirement that the funding provided to date will cover all costs until the end of March 2021. This is consistent with the terms of the funding guarantee provided by HM Treasury to the devolved administrations, which specified the funding was to cover the period until March 2021. This contingency is also required in order to support any additional funding requirements as a result of the end of the EU transition period.

Details of funding for the initial series of commitments made by the Scottish Government have been provided in the Summer Budget Revision document which was published on the 27th of May and the Autumn Budget Revision document which was published on 24th of September.

The Summer Budget Revision document can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.scot/publications/2020-21-summer-budget-revision/
The Autumn Budget Revision document can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.scot/publications/2020-21-autumn-budget-revision/
The letter to the Finance and Constitution Committee can be found at the following link: Latest COVID-19 funding allocations - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

As you will appreciate Budget Revisions are necessarily a snapshot of the position at that time and this is a continually evolving picture. Additional details on the ongoing allocation of funding for the response to the Covid-19 emergency will be set in the Spring budget revision later in this financial year.

7. The 2020-21 Budget has provision of £25,000 for the implementation of the Referendums (Scotland) Act.

Some of the information you have requested, is available from a previous response to a Freedom of Information request, available at 'Scotland's right to choose: putting Scotland's future in Scotland's hands' related costs: FOI release - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
Some of the information you have requested is available from a previous response to a Freedom of Information request, available at: Total cost of Consultation on Draft Referendum Bill: FOI release - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you.

 

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