On Board: a guide for members of management advisory boards

Budgeting in a Public Body

The resources to be allocated to bodies by the Scottish Parliament are determined as part of the Spending Review process. Spending Reviews take place every few years.

This process dovetails with the United Kingdom Spending Review which largely sets the overall Scottish budget for each Spending Review period. After deduction has been made for the costs of the Scotland Office plus the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body and Audit Scotland, the Scottish Government, subject to the consent of the Scottish Parliament, has discretion to decide how the Scottish budget should be divided between its various portfolios, Non-Ministerial Offices and programmes. The grant-in-aid necessary to support the agreed budgets of sponsored bodies is authorised by the Scottish Parliament in the annual Budget Act.

The Chief Executive is responsible for the approval of the corporate plan (and possibly operational plans) before submission to the Scottish Government. The Management Advisory Board should receive regular financial reports (at least quarterly) showing expenditure/use of resources against planned budgets and progress towards financial targets including projected efficiency savings. Board members should provide the 'challenge function', carefully scrutinising plans, performance against plans and underlying assumptions.

The Chief Executive will approve high value, novel or contentious expenditure proposals for submission to the Scottish Government and Ministers for approval when it is necessary/appropriate to seek approval from the Scottish Government. In this area too, the Board provides an important challenge function.