Millions of pounds of investment by the Scottish Government in schools, hospitals, housing, transport and communications infrastructure projects has delivered some 40,000 jobs across Scotland over the last year.

The news was revealed by Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on Monday.

In 2013, 18 infrastructure projects, worth £400m, completed construction and are now in use. This includes four health centres, seven schools and two major transport projects.

Work has also been completed on a further four infrastructure projects, worth £225m, which will be available to communities by the end of March 2014.

The findings are included in the Scottish Government's second annual progress report of the multi-billion pound Infrastructure Investment Plan (IIP) which has just been published.

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It is understood investment by the Scottish Government in infrastructure projects is set to top £8bn between 2014/15 and 2015/16. Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon outlined the detail of the progress report as she visited the site of East Kilbride's new 6300 sq ft Hunter Health Centre. The facility is part of an overall investment of £51m and includes health centres in Wishaw and Kilsyth.

The health centre, which will include six existing GP practices, one general dental practice, podiatry, physiotherapy, speech and language therapy, all community treatment room activity, mental health, phlebotomy, public health nurses and long term condition nurses, is due for completion in summer 2015.

Minister Sturgeon is quoted as saying: "This Government is determined to invest in Scotland's schools, hospitals, housing, transport and communication infrastructure – both to stimulate growth in the short term and lay the foundations for long term success.

"Infrastructure investment over 2013/14 is estimated to have supported some 40,000 jobs in communities across Scotland. That is good news for our economy and our construction industry, which we know benefits from the certainty and vision of the future the Infrastructure Investment Plan provides.

"Today's progress report and updated pipeline shows that significant progress has been made across all sectors over the past year. This is despite substantial cuts in our capital budget from Westminster of some 27 per cent in real terms between 2010/11 and 2015/16."

(JP/IT)