Provisional budget outturn

The carry forward of funding into 2017-18, first announced as part of the Budget, was confirmed today as the Scottish Government published the provisional cash outturn for 2016-17.

The figures show expenditure of £29.7 billion, against a limit of £29.9 billion, with £191 million carried forward in full into 2017-18.

This funding supports the spending plans that were approved by the Parliament in February, including the key additional expenditure commitments set out at Stage 2 of the 2017-18 Budget Bill process.

The amount collected from devolved taxes has risen by more than 10% or £61 million to a total of £633 million in 2016-17, slightly less than original estimates.

Finance Secretary Derek Mackay said:

“In 2016-17, the Scottish Government has once again demonstrated our sound grip on the public finances.

“We have consistently adopted a position of controlling public expenditure to ensure we live within the budget caps that apply. Under the UK’s fiscal rules, the Scottish Government cannot overspend - what we can do is carry forward a capped level of spending for use in a future year, where this is needed.  And, we have successfully raised 10% more in devolved taxes to spend on critical public services.

“As we set out last year, not a penny of the underspend is lost to Scotland, as we will be carrying this forward into 2017-18 to support the key additional expenditure commitments that I announced during Stage 2 of the Budget Bill process earlier this year.

 “We will continue to maintain a firm grip on Scotland’s public finances against a backdrop of considerable economic turbulence and on-going pressures on our finances, notably through the UK Government’s continued adherence to austerity.”

Background

The annual Scottish Government Consolidated Accounts and a Statement of Total Outturn for the financial year 2016-17 against the final budget for the Scottish Administration as a whole will be provided to the Scottish Parliament later this year.