Budget Scrutiny Follow Up letter from Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, 13 January 2022
13 January 2022 Convenor,
During the evidence session on 21 December I committed to provide further information to the Committee to assist with its budget scrutiny. Please see the requested information be low:
A breakdown of the £1.1 billion is set out under row 112 of the Health and Social Care Portfolio Level 4 budget table. Our package of investment in social care and integration in 2022-23 will however exceed £1.6 billion and has been measured in line with our approach in previous years. This comprises additional support for social care and the National Care Service of just over £1 billion (set out in rows 113 to 115 of the Health and Social Care Portfolio Level 4 budget table), along with funding of £591 million specifically for social care and integration that forms part of baseline allocations for NHS Boards and Local Government. This £591 million does not therefore form part of the level 3 budget line.
The committee also sought further information on how we can evaluate the impact of social prescribing. The Scottish Government is taking forward a place-based programme of work that is bringing together public, private and third sectors to jointly drive changes locally to reduce health inequalities within communities. Our focus is on creating a system that better aligns with local needs. We will cultivate community-led health improvement activity and look to embed this into local public services. As part of this, we will consider how we can fund differently, creatively deploy workforces and make smarter use of data.
Through this programme we aim to bring together the various strands of work on social prescribing already underway across Scotland. We will look to build on best practice and consider any barriers faced by Heath and Social Care professionals; organisations providing resources and services; and by ‘community connectors’ and link workers in adopting social prescribing approaches. This work will include agreeing a common understanding of the scope of social prescribing, which will, in turn, allow us to further develop the evidence base and to consider how we can best evaluate the impact of social prescribing initiatives.
I trust that this information is helpful and I am happy to provide further detail on progress in due course.