Cost for private consultants for health and social care services & National Care Service: FOI release

Information requested

On Health and Social Care Services

1. Since April 2020 how much is the total monetary value paid by the Scottish Government to private consultants with respect to the delivery and/or planning of health and social care services, not related to the implementation of the National Care Service?

2. As of 24th March 2022, how much is the total in monetary value of pending contracts in relation to the delivery and/or planning of health and social care services, not related to the implementation of the National Care Service?

On the National Care Service

3. Since April 2020 what is the total monetary value paid by the Scottish Government to private consultants, that can be attributed to any work related to the implementation of a National Care Service?

4. As of March 2022, what is the total monetary value of all relevant pending contracts associated with the ongoing work related to the implementation of a National Care Service?

Response

The Scottish Government and NHS Boards make arrangements for external consultancy support where this provides value for money and where there is a requirement for specific skills or services that cannot be delivered within existing capacity. All of these arrangements are supported by funding from the Scottish Government’s overall Health Portfolio budget.

This includes £515,301 for contracts not relating to the National Care Service and £189,053 relating to the National Care Service.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. This is because Health Boards can make their own independent arrangements with external contractors. You may wish to contact individual Boards for further details.

Some of the information you have requested is available from:

• Information on public contracts awarded, including buying organisation and value, is published on the Public Contracts Scotland website: Home - Public Contracts Scotland.
• Spend with private contractors is published in NHS Boards’ accounts which are available on Boards’ websites.
• Scottish Government and NHS Boards publish details of payments over £25,000 on a monthly basis, including any such payments for consultancy. This information is publicly made available on the organisation’s website. For Scottish Government, the information is available at the following location: Government spend over £25,000: monthly reports - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

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

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.

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.