Chamber and committees

So you have had talks about talks.

Another area that the committee has been particularly keen to explore is the implications of a much higher inflation economy, one of the consequences of which is that people’s real-terms living standards are, in most cases, being cut. On the other side of that equation, pay settlements have been higher and people’s earnings—not in real terms but in monetary terms—have been going up, which presumably has an implication for the income tax that is collected.

I turn to Jonathan Athow first. Could you help us to understand a bit more about the impact of inflation on the collection of Scottish income tax?

Thank you very much.

The committee is aware that, in places, the reports prepared by the National Audit Office and the Auditor General for Scotland used language such as “continuing limitations” and “risk”, and identified some areas of concern. We will get to those shortly but, before we get into some of that detail, I will take you back to one of the fundamental issues raised in the audit.

The issue came out in the evidence session that we had on 9 February with the National Audit Office and the Auditor General. They drew our attention to the conclusion that the growth in Scottish income tax receipts in the financial year 2021-22 was expected to be 11.3 per cent, whereas the UK equivalent income tax receipts were expected to grow by 13.2 per cent. I turn to Alyson Stafford first. Can you give us an explanation of the Government’s thinking on why Scottish income tax growth has been lower than the growth in the UK as a whole in recent years?

Mr Burns, you are using the language of progress and improvement but, to give two examples from the Audit Scotland report, the percentage of A and E attendances seen within four hours dropped from 83 per cent in December 2019 to just 62 per cent in December 2022, and paragraph 37 of the report states that delayed discharges

“increased to the highest level since 2014/15”.

That does not sound like progress and improvement to me. It sounds as if we are going not forwards but backwards.

I will take you back to what you said in reply to Bill Kidd’s opening questions. Did you suggest that the figure in the Audit Scotland report—that only three of the 14 territorial NHS boards were expected to break even—was just a snapshot at the wrong time?

Okay, thank you.

Another area identified in the Audit Scotland report is the delays to the roll-out of the national treatment centres, which we all understand are critical in regard to tackling waiting times and the backlog. They are critical not just in addressing the immediate pressures but in providing a longer-term route for getting people the treatment that they need. There has been a delay. Can you tell us where we are with the opening of the national treatment centres, some of which were meant to open last year and are still not open?

Earlier, you said that the NHS Forth Valley’s Larbert site treatment centre and the expanded one at NHS Golden Jubilee at Clydebank will be open by the end of the year. Can you give us a definite commitment that, by December 2023, those two centres will be open and receiving patients?

John Burns, are you confident about that?

Thank you very much indeed.

Do you accept and agree with the findings and recommendations of the Auditor General for Scotland?

Okay. Obviously, as the Public Audit Committee, we are interested in the public accountability of the service, and the only way for us to achieve that is to have the data and that degree of transparency. You might share our frustration, but I re-emphasise to you that we think that it is extremely important, because, for many people, general practice is their access point to the national health service.