Meeting of the Parliament 19 February 2026 [Draft]
I will come on to members’ contributions shortly, but I will first cover off some general points.
The Government recognises the essential role that local authorities and health boards play in delivering high-quality health and care services across Scotland, including in rural and island communities. That is why the draft 2026-27 budget provides a record investment of £22.5 billion in health and social care services.
Since 2007, the Government has delivered a balanced budget and has taken steps to support the long-term sustainability of Scotland’s public services, despite significant inflationary pressures and increasing demand on services. Both the NHS Scotland resource allocation committee—NRAC—formula and the local government grant-aided expenditure distribution methodology provide objective, evidence-based methods for assessing the relative needs of services across the country.
We recognise that strong and on-going partnership work is essential, and the Government remains absolutely committed to constructive engagement with local authorities, NHS boards, integration authorities, COSLA and local communities to ensure that reforms are co-designed and that funding decisions support sustainable long-term improvement and improve outcomes for the people and the communities that they serve.
As I said, the draft budget that was recently introduced in the Parliament provides £22.5 billion of investment in health and social care services. It exceeds the health consequentials from the UK Government and provides a real-terms uplift, to ensure more sustainable and resilient services. In 2026-27, NHS boards’ baseline funding will increase, bringing a total investment of more than £17.6 billion—an average real-terms uplift of 1.8 per cent. We will also be fully funding pay deals in 2026-27. We recognise, of course, that it remains the statutory responsibility of NHS boards to achieve a balanced budget.
As I mentioned, the NRAC formula is an objective measure of the need for healthcare services across Scotland. However, in addition, since 2012-13, the Scottish Government has provided more than £4 billion of additional funding to ensure that each territorial board remains within 0.6 per cent of NRAC parity.
The NRAC formula is refreshed annually to reflect changes in population and service needs, including in remote and rural communities. That supports vital work to reduce health inequality and ensures that we continue to allocate funding according to the relative need for healthcare in each board area. In particular, in 2026-27, NHS Grampian will receive nearly £1.5 billion in baseline funding, which equates to an increased investment of £130.7 million compared with 2025-26 and includes a 2 per cent baseline uplift of £28 million. NHS Grampian will also receive an additional £11.4 million to ensure that it remains within 0.6 per cent of NRAC parity.