page_title: Scottish National Party
section_title: Health and education policies
hierarchical_section_title: Scottish National Party / Policies / Health and education policies
caption_attribution_description: English: New Victoria Hospital, Glasgow, Scotland
context_page_description: The Scottish National Party is a Scottish nationalist and social-democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence within the European Union, with a platform based on civic nationalism. The SNP is the third-largest political party by membership in the United Kingdom, behind the Labour Party and the Conservative Party and it is the largest political party in Scotland, where it has the most seats in the Scottish Parliament and 48 out of the 59 Scottish seats in the House of Commons at Westminster. The current Scottish National Party leader, Nicola Sturgeon, has served as First Minister of Scotland since November 2014.
  Founded in 1934 with the amalgamation of the National Party of Scotland and the Scottish Party, the party has had continuous parliamentary representation in Westminster since Winnie Ewing won the 1967 Hamilton by-election. With the establishment of the devolved Scottish Parliament in 1999, the SNP became the second-largest party, serving two terms as the opposition.
context_section_description: The SNP have pledged to uphold the public service nature of NHS Scotland and are consequently opposed to any attempts at privatisation of the health service, including any inclusion in a post-Brexit trade deal with the United States. The party has been fond of increasing provision under the NHS with the introduction of universal baby boxes based on the Finnish scheme. This supported child development alongside other commitments including the expansion of free childcare for children younger than school age and the introduction of universal free school meals in the first three years of school.
  Previously, SNP governments have abolished hospital parking charges as well as prescription charges in efforts to promote enhanced public health outcomes by increasing access to care and treatment. Furthermore, during Sturgeon's premiership, Scotland became the first country in the world to introduce alcohol minimum unit pricing to counter alcohol problems. Recently, the party has also committed to providing universal access to sanitary products and the liberalisation of drugs policy through devolution, in an effort to increase access to treatment and improve public health outcomes.
  The party also promotes universal access to education, with one of the first acts of the Salmond government being to abolish tuition fees. More cently, the party has turned its attention to widening access to higher education with Nicola Sturgeon stating that education is her number one priority. At school level, the Curriculum for Excellence is currently undergoing a review.
caption: The SNP abolished parking charges at hospitals including the Victoria Hospital, Glasgow
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