Public Service Investment

Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament am 4:50 pm ar 13 Mehefin 2024.

Danfonwch hysbysiad imi am ddadleuon fel hyn

Photo of Neil Gray Neil Gray Scottish National Party 4:50, 13 Mehefin 2024

Of course, and that goes back to the points that I raised in the discussion on reform that I instituted last week, which is about the need to ensure that we invest in preventative measures. That work is not just starting; the work that we are doing on the vaccination programme and on minimum unit pricing is already preventing further ill health and ensuring that we are making progress with our health services. The investment that we are making to ensure that 100,000 children are kept out of poverty also has a direct consequence for the outcomes that we will see in our health services. I am more than happy to have that discussion and debate with Miles Briggs and others.

Shona Robison opened the debate by highlighting key areas of investment from the Scottish Government, and that was only some of the investment that we have made in our public services. In addition to what we have heard so far, in relation to my portfolio of health and social care, the 2024-25 budget provides record funding of more than £19.5 billion for NHS recovery and health and social care, which is a real-terms uplift. We have invested more than £14.2 billion of that funding in our NHS boards, with additional investment of more than half a billion pounds, which is an almost 3 per cent real-terms increase.

Despite having one hand tied behind our back by Westminster austerity—as was so eloquently highlighted by Ben Macpherson—our investment in affordable housing in 2024-25 is nearly £600 million. Since 2007, we have delivered more than 40 per cent more affordable homes per head of population in Scotland than in England, and 70 per cent more than in Wales.