NHS funding: FOI release

Information requested

You asked for a request for information in relation to NHS funding.

Response

I enclose a copy of all of the information you requested in the format you asked for.

In answer to your first question on “how much extra money has been raised in each tax year since 2016”, the current powers over income tax first took effect in 2017-18. Revenue raised from Scottish taxes are not hypothecated for a particular use, but rather contribute to the overall Scottish Budget and support investment in a wide range of public services.

Regarding the additional revenue raised by Scottish Income Tax in each year since devolution, the information you have requested is already available in the public domain in the following publication:

• Updated official Income Tax forecasts by the independent Scottish Fiscal Commission (SFC). The full publication is available using the link below:

Scotland’s Economic and Fiscal Forecasts – December 2023 – Scottish Fiscal Commission

As shown in Figure 4.5, and the accompanying spreadsheet published online, the decisions the Scottish Government has taken since the devolution of the current income tax powers are estimated to raise £ 1,454 million more in 2024-25 than if we were to simply replicate the Income Tax system in place in the rest of the UK.

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 answer to your second question “how many extra places at University has the money funded in each profession, Nurses, Doctors, Physiotherapist, Mental Health, Paramedics etc year on year” is shown in Table 1 below. The table shows the number of funded places for Medical and Dental staff each year since 2016.

Table 1: Number of Medical and Dental Student Places Funded Each, by Year

A/Y	2015/16	2016/17	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20	2020/21	2021/22	2022/23	2023/24
Intake target	848	898	898	953	1013	1038	1117	1317	1417

Information on Nursing and Midwifery funded student places, previously sourced from the SFC which can be seen in Table 2 below.

Table 2: Number of Funded Nursing and Midwifery Student Places, by Year

Year	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Funded Places	3283	3035	3037	3037	2680	2410	2510	2930	3018	3189	3340	3668	3893	4104	4449	4837
Nursing	3083	2815	2853	2853	2580	2310	2370	2770	2845	3007	2978	3462	3656	3834	4162	4536
Midwifery	200	220	184	184	100	100	140	160	173	182	191	206	237	270	287	301

All fields of nursing are included as part of the overall funded places targets – NES hold that information as they handle the university allocations, but NES have recently advised that of the overall funded places the target for mental health AY23/24 was 916.

Mental Health is multidisciplinary group of services and not a singular profession. However, we have provided the number of funded mental health student nursing places for 2023/24 above.

Information on Paramedic funded student places, previously sourced from the SFC can be seen in Table 3 below.

Table 3: Number of Funded Paramedic Student Places, by Year

Year	20/21	21/22	22/23	23/24	24/25	25/26
Funded Places	280	300	335	335	335	335

Physiotherapy is not a controlled subject and as such Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of student places, however this information may be sourced from the Scottish Funding Council directly at info@sfc.ac.uk

In response to your third question “how many people in these extra places have qualified and now work in the NHS in Scotland year on year”, there is no direct correlation between funded places and employment in NHS Scotland. Table 4 below shows staffing figures for Nursing and Midwifery, AHP, Medical and Dental staffing groups within NHS Scotland from 2016-2023 as at 30 September each year. These figures demonstrate growth in each job family over the time period.

Table 4: NHS Scotland Whole Time Equivalent Nursing & Midwifery, Medical & Dental and Allied Health Professional Workforce, as at 30 September each Year

Year	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Nursing and Midwifery (WTE)	59,161.0	59,412.8	59,489.2	60,014.9	61,775.0	64,232.1	64,221.9	65,269.8
Allied Health Professionals (WTE)	11,477.6	11,517.6	11,667.0	11,923.1	12,227.8	12,545.2	13,145.7	13,835.8
Medical and Dental (WTE)	13,117.7	13,239.3	13,531.6	13,745.6	14,411.4	14,837.2	15,348.1	15,781.8
Of which: Medical and Dental Consultants (WTE)	5,303.7	5,324.2	5,484.7	5,505.2	5,701.9	5,902.1	6,032.0	6,096.1

In answer to your fourth question “if the money has not been used to fund extra places to get more qualified staff how has it been used in the NHS and has it all been used every year in the NHS”, the details of available funding and allocations are set out in each year’s Scottish Budget, which is published on the Scottish Government’s website: Scottish Budget - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

This includes a breakdown of available funding, including that from tax, as well as a breakdown of how that funding is allocated, including budget allocations made to NHS Boards. The Scottish Government also allocates further funding in year to NHS Boards that supplement these budgets.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some the information you have requested in the format requested. This is because individual elements of funding are not specifically allocated to any one area; overall funding available is distributed across Ministerial priorities. Further detail on priorities is set out in the Policy Prospectus, Portfolio Mandate Letters and Programme for Government.

Equality, opportunity, community: New leadership - A fresh start - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
Policy priority agreements - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
Programme for Government 2023 to 2024 - 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 listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

In response to your final question, “why is the NHS Scotland not outperforming the NHS in the rest of the UK as it has been better funded.” Unfortunately we are unable to provide a full answer as NHS services across the United Kingdom are large and complex organisations and it is not possible to make an overall direct comparison of performance. However statistics on NHS Scotland performance can be found here:

Public Health Scotland

About FOI

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