§ Mr. Jim MurphyTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the impact of the Comprehensive Spending Review on provision for Scotland's schools and hospitals. [50526]
§ Mr. Dewar[holding answer 23 July 1998]: Additional investment of £1.8 billion is being made in the NHS in Scotland over the next three years. This extra investment will meet the growing demand for emergency treatment, cut hospital waiting lists well below the inherited levels to 75,000 by the end of this Parliament, reduce the time patients have to wait to be treated and allow the key recommendations to modernise the NHS, set out in the Acute Services Review, to be implemented.
Additional funding for specific initiatives in schools totals £629 million over the next three years on top of other provision also being made through the Local Government Settlement. The new resources will back our initiative to set stretching targets for improvement for all schools by 2001. They will contribute to the tackling of the backlog of school repairs; class sizes will be reduced in the first three years of Primary School and there will be an Excellence Fund which will target support on projects critical to raising attainment throughout Scotland. The Excellence Fund represents the equivalent of £100 for every school pupil in 1999–2000 rising to more than £150 per pupil in 2000–01.