As our live coverage of the Emergency Budget Review comes to a close, it's worth reminding you that John Swinney will be interviewed on BBC Radio Scotland's Drivetime programme by John Beattie at around 5.15pm.

You can listen here on the live page or here with Radio Scotland live.

It's only the beginning...published at 16:56 Greenwich Mean Time 2 November 2022

16:56 GMT 2 November 2022

Philip Sim
BBC Scotland political correspondent

As hard as today might seem, it is still really only the beginning.

We have Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s autumn statement coming up in a fortnight, with warnings about the “difficult choices” involved.

And then there’s Mr Swinney’s own budget for the coming year on 15 December, where he can pull on tax levers as well as setting spending limits.

In May, his predecessor Kate Forbes set out spending envelopes for the next few years which forecast a flat cash settlement for most departments, meaning they will have no protection from soaring inflation.

She was saying it was time to “reshape and refocus the public sector” before we even knew the heights inflation would hit.

Holyrood’s committees are already hearing grim talk of the police service being “hollowed out” and of courthouses having to close – and that’s just from the justice portfolio.

The coming weeks are where that talk could become a reality, as ministers are forced to follow through on those difficult choices.

Adam Stachura, head of policy at Age Scotland, tells Drivetime that next year's Scottish budget will give a clearer idea of what the cuts will mean for health services.

"There's a lot of money being cut but very little detail on what that means for actual services," he says.

"This is the time that we need so much support for people but money is just not available to do it."

He says there is an argument for borrowing money to help people who are contributing to tax and society.

"Cutting things when people are really, really in need, which will undoubtedly impact those with the least, is probably not a good thing to do," Mr Stachura says.

Much of this year's spending is getting the pushpublished at 16:38 Greenwich Mean Time 2 November 2022

16:38 GMT 2 November 2022

Douglas Fraser
Scotland business & economy editor

There's a lot in the Emergency Budget Review that is being "shifted right" in spreadsheet terms - spending which isn't already committed is being pushed at least into next year.

And while the NHS usually gets protection in budgets, it is taking a large share of the pain of delayed spending. Mental health was identified for a big increase, but that is being scaled back by a £38m "repurposing".

The creation of a National Care Service, which is gaining in controversy, is losing in preparatory funding, with that and other social care taking a £70m hit.

Primary care gets £65m less and there is £63m less to spend before next April on other health projects, from the trauma network to genomics.

There is £116m to be found by doing less around the residual spend on Covid and the pandemic.

Education and skills see £40m lopped off the capital budget. There's £16m less for the broadband rollout to remoter parts of Scotland. Support for bus operators to upgrade their fleets to low emission vehicles is to get £29m less.

That's in addition to big cuts announced in September to budgets for training, concessionary fares and agriculture, with an effective recruitment freeze across many public agencies.

And the message from John Swinney to public sector workers who complain about the impact of these cuts: every penny spent on increasing their pay, even if it falls far short of price inflation, is being found from savings elsewhere.

Image source, PA Media

If you are just joining us, Scotland's finance secretary has unveiled details, external of a further £615m worth of spending cuts.

The "reductions and reprioritisations" are in addition to another £560m of cuts that were announced in September.

John Swinney said the financial situation facing the Scottish government was by far the most challenging since devolution.

And soaring inflation meant this year's budget was now worth £1.7bn less than when in was introduced last December.

Mr Swinney also said savings needed to be made to offset the impact of Brexit, public sector pay deals and help for Ukrainian refugees.

The measures he announced included reprioritising £400m from the NHS budget in order to provide a "fair pay deal" for health staff - although he stressed that the overall NHS budget was unchanged.

Read more here

The deputy first minister says: "Local authorities will be getting significantly more resources as a consequence of the reprioritisation exercises I have gone through to support very strong pay deals that are assisting local government employees on low income."

Turning to mental health, Mr Swinney says he and the health secretary are both determined to ensure that "we protect the mental health services as much as we possibly can do".

Funding for mental health services will still grow - but not as fast as the Scottish government hoped he says.

Mr Swinney insists limited options at this stage of the financial year and it is an indication of the "severity of the situation we face in public expenditure terms that I'm having to take decisions of that type".

Image source, scottish parliament

Alex Cole-Hamilton tells the chamber we are here in large part due to the "calamitous decisions by the Conservative government" and "that's why we need a general election".

But the Scottish Lib Dem leader adds: "The choices THIS government have made are manifestly wrong as well."

Mr Cole-Hamilton points to Scottish government spending on the constitution, national testing and the creations of a national care service.

He says £38m is being stripped from mental health and he asks what has changed in the severity of the national mental health crisis that he can find that level of money to cut from the mental health budget.

Image source, Scottish Parliament

Scottish Labour's Daniel Johnson calls for transparency and asks which departments have to make the biggest proportional savings.

Mr Johnson says: "There is no doubt that the chaos emanating from the UK government makes a challenging situation that much more difficult."

"I've not approached this from the perspective of applying a random reduction across portfolios," Mr Swinney says.

He says he had to consider what options remain available to reprioritise spending at this stage in the financial year.

Savings within health and social care would be used to support the "very strong pay offer that has been made, particularly for low-income staff", Mr Swinney says.

But he adds that challenges for the next financial year remain.

"I have yet to identify those resources," Mr Swinney says. "I am still working to make sure I can balance the budget this year, which is my statutory duty."

£35m for cost of living support 'a drop in the ocean'published at 15:57 Greenwich Mean Time 2 November 2022

15:57 GMT 2 November 2022

Philip Sim
BBC Scotland political correspondent

The original idea of this emergency review – sometime in the distant past – was to find extra cash for cost of living support measures.

However, the budget has since been blown up by inflation and the cost of public sector pay deals.

So the vast majority of the cuts involved have had to go towards funding that, rather than new measures for households.

Mr Swinney announced £35m of cost of living support – which is no doubt welcome, but a drop in the ocean up against the £700m that needs to go towards pay deals.

In a way, those two things are one and the same because increased pay obviously helps workers deal with rising prices too.

But it has all put serious strain on the public purse – and there have been warnings aplenty that things are only going to get harder going forward.

Image source, Scottish Parliament

On the National Care Service, Mr Swinney points to a very high level of delayed discharges which creates "an enormous strain in the delivery of national health services" and a "necessity for reform".

A new service is required to assure the public about the quality and range of care that will be available to them, he says.

It is also needed to ensure we are able to support the sustainability of the NHS, he adds.

Mr Swinney turns to the constitution budget and says the £20m for a referendum on independence does not occur in this financial year.

Finally, the DFM turns to productivity and he says he is protecting public expenditure in skills, universities and the college sector.

The most crucial thing about productivity would be having a "sensible approach to population and migration" he adds, lambasting the "total folly of Brexit".

He argues the behaviour of the UK government and especially the home secretary in the last couple of days is undermining productivity in the Scottish economy

Image source, Scottish Parliament

Now it's question time for Mr Swinney...

Liz Smith asks if John Swinney really thinks that now is the appropriate time for his government to be proceeding with a National Care Service Bill which has drawn much criticism and which Audit Scotland predicts will cost £1.3bn.

The Scottish Conservative finance spokesperson asks why there has been no further cut to the constitution budget.

She also asks what specific measures will be put in place to boost productivity, which is a serious issue that undermines the tax take in Scotland.

Mr Swinney says they are anticipating a package of "eye-watering cuts" in the autumn statement and his emergency budget review has involved extremely difficult decisions".

He details requests which Nicola Sturgeon has made to the "latest prime minister" on support controlled by the UK government.

He says the first minister has called for clarity on what support will be available for businesses and households after the early end of the energy price guarantee next March.

An immediate and permanent £25 uplift to universal credit has also been requested, along with a reversal of the two-child limit for benefits and an end to the benefit cap.

"We have been clear that an enhanced windfall tax should fund this support in place of increased borrowing or spending cuts," Mr Swinney says.

He adds that the outlook for 2022/23 and beyond is "clearly more difficult" than anticipated, but says the Scottish government is committed to its goals for Scotland.

• £21m of Scottish government staff reductions, via “vacancy freezes and tightening of recruitment controls”
• £38m from the mental health budget – although ministers say this is the budget not growing as fast as planned, rather than a longer-term cut
• £116m from Covid budgets, including spending on vaccines, test and protect and PPE
• £2.9m from education, including £1.3m from international higher education and £1.6m from marketing and youth work funds
• £150m in capital infrastructure funding, including delays to new college projects and housebuilding as well as low-carbon travel

Opposition parties have plenty to pick away atpublished at 15:34 Greenwich Mean Time 2 November 2022

15:34 GMT 2 November 2022

Philip Sim
BBC Scotland political correspondent

MSPs are going to want to drill down into the detail of the proposed savings, but at present the measures set out to parliament are fairly vague.

Take for example the £116m of savings in the health budget which are attributed simply to “a range of actions relating to Covid expenditure”.

What does that mean? Vaccinations, test and protect and PPE are all mentioned, but it is not clear from the documents provided how exactly they will be affected as of yet.

There will also be particular areas parties will pick out – like spend on mental health, primary care and education.

Expect these questions to persist over the coming weeks in parliament as the government draws up its longer-term budgets.

Image source, Getty Images

Business support including reforms to regulations to "make it easier for businesses to thrive" are included in the review.

Measures outlined by Mr Swinney feature doubling the energy sufficiency cashback scheme, and protecting the small business bonus scheme, which means more that 111,000 companies do not need to pay business rates.

"We have repeatedly called on the UK government to do more, given the considerably greater flexibility available to the UK government," he adds.

Mr Swinney outlines a number of measures designed to help those struggling most financially.

"This government will always do what we can to support those most affected by the cost of living crisis," he says.

This includes a commitment to double the child bridging payment for the 145,000 school-age children who are registered for free-school meals.

The fuel insecurity fund will be doubled to £20m and funding for local authorities to use in housing payment support is also to be increased.

Mr Swinney further announces a £1.4m "island cost crisis emergency fund".

Image source, Science Photo Library

Mr Swinney says the government will make £615m in savings in 2022/23 in addition to the initially planned £560m cuts - a total of almost £1.2bn.

He says this will include "reprioritising" spending in health and social care to provide a "fair pay offer for NHS staff and meet the extraordinary pressures from inflation and demand as the service begins to recover from the pandemic".

"Rephasing" social care spending and "repurposing" spending areas such as mental health would be needed, Mr Swinney adds.

However, the deputy first minister says they will continue with plans for a national care service and provide overall increases to mental health services.

"These are extraordinarily difficult choices," Mr Swinney says.

Image source, Getty Images

Measures announced today are aimed at providing further help to those most impacted by the cost of living crisis while tackling budget pressures caused by rising inflation and economic uncertainty.

The Emergency Budget Review (EBR), external for 2022-23 identifies funding of around £35m for a range of initiatives to support people with the increased cost of living, including doubling the Fuel Insecurity Fund, doubling the Scottish Child Bridging Payment to £260 and a new £1.4m Island Cost Crisis Emergency Fund to help island households manage higher energy costs.

Significant investment in public sector pay deals – delivering higher increases in pay for low earners – is also designed to help families and individuals deal with the cost of living crisis.

The Scottish government will target support to the lowest paid where possible, continues the deputy first minister.

He tells the chamber of a 7% offer for frontline workers in local government which would increase salaries for the lowest paid by over 11%.

Mr Swinney says, although some pay negotiations have yet to conclude, he has committed over £700m of additional resources to fund enhanced pay settlements.

"Every additional penny for pay has had to be found from existing, previously allocated and agreed budgets elsewhere within the current finite Scottish budget."