COVID-19 NHS Scotland pandemic funding FOI release

Information requested

1. From December 2019 to present, how did NHS Scotland use the money from UK government to tackle the virus? Which NHS body had the power to do so? 

2. I would like to know how much money did the government send to NHS Scotland? How much has been used and how much still hasn't been used?

3. I want to have a breakdown of the data on which health sectors this money was allocated to. how much for each? what was the money spent on? 

4. Was the money spent on equipment or staff? If so, what kind equipment and staff in what departments? What else did the money spend on? How much did this cost respectively?

5. which hospitals were recipients of this money? How much did each receive? How did they each distribute the money if they had the power to do so?

6. Did any problems occur when the NHS was dealing with this amount of money? If so, what were they?
-Please provide me any relevant information and direct me to relevant links.

Response

Questions 1, 2 and 4
Some of the information you have requested is available from the Scottish Parliament's website. All answers to written parliamentary questions (PQs) are available on the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

The specific PQs containing the relevant information are:
S5W-33353 & S5W-33413 provide information on health consequentials and resulting allocations to the health and social care sector to support the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
S5W-32107 provides allocation by NHS board area.

Questions 1, 4, & 5

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested (breakdown of how funding was spent by NHS boards and integration authorities) because ultimately it is at the Boards’ discretion how they direct funding to address local pressures and priorities in response to COVID-19. However, you may wish to contact individual Health Boards who may be able to help you with the detail of your request.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

Question 6
It is assumed that the question is asking if the level of funding caused issue because it exceeded £1 billion.
This did not cause issue. To give context, prior to the pandemic, the health budget for 2020-21 exceeded £15 billion.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.