Sturgeon planned ‘radical’ move to scrap prescription charges earlier

Cabinet papers show then health secretary pushed to accelerate key manifesto pledge

Nicola Sturgeon wanted to abolish prescription charges two years ahead of schedule, with the then health secretary arguing that a “radical approach” that avoided the “bureaucracy” of a gradual phasing out would win public support, according to newly released papers.

The eventual abolition of the charges was one of the flagship policies of the SNP’s first term in power. The party’s vow to gradually phase out the fees before scrapping them altogether by 2012 was central to the manifesto that helped it to election victory, but after the Welsh Assembly moved to abolish charges, it brought forward the timetable to 2011.

But it has now emerged that the government wanted to do away with the fees as early as 2010, with Ms Sturgeon, who was also deputy first minister at the time, reasoning that the move would send a “clear signal” about the SNP’s commitment to the issue.

A draft paper presented to a meeting of the Scottish cabinet in August 2007, just three months after the SNP swept to power, saw Ms Sturgeon argue the case that the original policy commitment to extend prescription charge exemption to people with chronic conditions, and those in full-time education or training, should be replaced with her idea.

If implemented, it would have seen charges reduced by 56 per cent from 1 April 2008, a move that would have slashed the cost from £6.85 to £3 per item. There would have been a further reduction of 50 per cent the following year, reducing the cost further to £1.50, before the charges were abolished altogether from 1 April 2010.

The restricted document, which has been released by the National Records of Scotland as part of its annual publication of cabinet records, saw Ms Sturgeon state that detailed consideration had been given not just to various options for delivering the original manifesto commitment, but the possibility of “other interim options” that would have extended free prescriptions to more people on low incomes, and “make prescriptions more affordable to all.”

Ms Sturgeon said that the advice given to ministers was that there were “logistical issues” about a phased approach, pointing out that there were difficulties determining a list of chronic conditions for GPs to determine exemption applications. That, she said, carried a “considerable bureaucratic burden.”

Nicola Sturgeon wanted the Scottish Government to abolish prescription charges by 2010, newly released cabinet papers reveal. Picture: PA Images

Instead, she put forward the idea for the “radical” alternative, reasoning that it “avoids the bureaucracy and associated costs of introducing and maintaining revised administrative arrangements over the shortened period in which abolition will be delivered.”

Under her costed plans, the accelerated abolition process would have cost around £29m in 2008/9, £42m in 2009/10, with a “final annual occurring loss” in the region of £55m to £57m. “My view is that that programme should be kept simple in administrative terms and send a clear signal about our commitment to abolish prescription charges,” she wrote. “I believe that the proposed action will deliver both.”

The declassified document states that the new plan was to have been announced at Holyrood in September, with the associated legislation laid down two months later. In the end, however, Ms Sturgeon appeared before MSPs in the December, where she announced that prescription charges would be abolished by 2011.