Scottish Consolidated Fund Accounts: year ended 31 March 2021

Foreword

Scope of the Account

The Scottish Consolidated Fund was set up following devolution in 1999 and received its statutory powers under the Scotland Act 1998.

This account has been prepared under sections 19 (2) and 19 (4) of the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000 which require the Scottish Ministers to prepare and lay before Parliament an account showing payments into and out of the Scottish Consolidated Fund.

Receipts

The Scottish Consolidated Fund (SCF) receives, from the Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland (formerly the Scotland Office), sums which have been voted by the UK Parliament for the purpose of "grant payable to the Fund". A number of other receipts are also paid into the Scottish Consolidated Fund, including receipts from the collection of devolved taxes.

Under devolved powers from the Scotland Act 2012, the Scottish Parliament was granted authority to set a Scottish Rate of Income Tax (SRIT) from 2016-17 onwards. Income tax continues to be administered by H M Revenue and Customs, but income tax revenues from earned income of Scottish taxpayers are assigned to the Scottish Administration. Assigned income tax revenues are drawn down from the UK Exchequer and paid into the Scottish Consolidated Fund.

Also under devolved powers from the 2012 Scotland Act, devolved taxes in respect of Land and Buildings Transactions Tax and Scottish Landfill Tax have been managed in Scotland from 2015-16 onwards. Revenue Scotland was established by the Revenue Scotland and Tax Powers Act 2014 to administer and collect both taxes. The taxes collected by Revenue Scotland are paid to the Scottish Consolidated Fund under sections 28 to 31 of the Scotland Act 2012.

The Devolved Taxes Account is prepared and published separately and can be accessed at The Scottish Government. The grant payable from the UK Parliament has been adjusted to take account of these locally raised tax receipts.

Section 32 of the Scotland Act 2012 as amended by section 20 of the Scotland Act 2016 grants Scottish Ministers enhanced borrowing powers, with any sums borrowed and repaid (including interest) to be paid into and out of the Fund respectively. Loan facilities under these powers provide for both shorter-term (resource) and longer-term (capital) borrowing. These powers were exercised during 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20, when in each year capital loans were taken out, and in 2020-21, when both capital and resource loans were taken out. The loans were taken out with the National Loans Fund (NLF). More details of sums borrowed and repaid under these provisions are set out in Note 5 to the accounts.

Following reclassification of Registers of Scotland as part of central government by the Office of National Statistics, most of the organisation's retained profits were transferred to the Fund for the first time in 2019-20. The balance of retained profits was transferred in 2020-21.

A short-term advance of £3,538 million was obtained from the UK Contingencies Fund in 2020-21. The advance was paid over to the Scottish Government to support expenditure pending the UK Spring Supplementary Budget, which increased Scotland's cash authorisation (UK cash limit), receiving Royal Assent. Once the additional Spring Supplementary cash requirement became available, the advance was repaid by the Scottish Government via the Fund and UK funding for the same amount was drawn down.

Receipts not authorised to be used to support expenditure shall also, by virtue of section 64 (3) of the Scotland Act 1998, be payable into the Fund, for example monies recovered under the provisions of the Proceeds of Crime legislation.

Payments

Funding is drawn down from the Scottish Consolidated Fund to support the spending plans approved by the Scottish Parliament in the annual Budget Act.

In addition, in accordance with the Scotland Act 1998 (Designation of Receipts) Order 2009 as amended by the Scotland Act 1998 (Designation of Receipts) Order 2017, certain receipts to the Scottish Consolidated Fund are designated to be paid to the Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland.

Sums are paid from the Fund in accordance with sections 4 and 6 of the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000.

Those bodies that draw down funding from the Scottish Consolidated Fund, principally the Scottish Government, provide annual accounts reporting their stewardship of those funds.

Accounts Overview

These accounts can be read in conjunction with the Devolved Taxes Account and the annual accounts of the Scottish Government and other bodies funded from the Scottish Budget to follow the flow of funds into and out of the Scottish Consolidated Fund, funding the use of resources authorised by the Scottish Parliament. These form a suite of accounts information that describe the fiscal activity of the Scottish Government, and also include the annual accounts of other bodies within the Scottish Administration and of the bodies funded directly from the Scottish Budget, which together report on the use of resources authorised by the Scottish Parliament for the financial year. The Scottish Government Consolidated Accounts and the Devolved Taxes Account can be accessed online at The Scottish Government.

These accounts show the transactions for the services set out above. The receipts paid into the Fund during the year totalled £55,790 million with payments from the Fund of £55,725 million. Excluding receipts and payments in relation to the UK Contingencies Fund (see Foreword), receipts paid into the Fund were £48,715 million and payments from the Fund were £48,650 million. The effect of the resulting surplus of £65 million is to increase the balance at the Government Banking Service by this amount to £287 million.

The main receipts paid into Fund are funding from the Secretary of State for Scotland, and the Scottish Rate of Income Tax; the source of these receipts is the UK Consolidated Fund, and their maximum value is set by the cash requirement in the UK Main Estimates and any amendments to it. The main payments out of the Fund are the payments authorised by the Budget Acts and any amendments; the maximum value of these is set by the cash authorisation in the Scottish Budget Acts and any amendments to it. These increased by £11,823 million and £10,640 million respectively in 2020-21. The Performance Analysis section of Performance Report in the Scottish Government Consolidated Accounts provides a detailed breakdown of the out-turn for the financial year compared to the Budget authorised by the Scottish Parliament, including any changes from the previous financial year.

Principal Accountable Officer

The Permanent Secretary of the Scottish Government, in her role as the Principal Accountable Officer for the Scottish Administration, is required to sign any account prepared in pursuance of section 19 (2) of the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000.

Audit

The accounts of the Fund are audited by Michael Oliphant, Audit Director at Audit Scotland, who are appointed by the Auditor General for Scotland as set out in section 21 of the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000.

Leslie Evans

Principal Accountable Officer

15 December 2021