costs

Early intervention can also reduce complications and lower health care costs.

The Federal Reserve started reducing rates in September, saying lower borrowing costs were needed to keep the economy on track and stave off weakening in the labour market.

That report was published before Chancellor Rachel Reeves' Budget increased staffing costs for businesses.

This raises doubts about whether PtX plants can perform as expected, making the costs and revenue potential -- which run into the billions -- highly uncertain.

Holyrood ministers say Scotland, which has a proportionally larger public sector than the UK as a whole, needs more than £500m to compensate for increased public sector staffing costs.