Funding provided to support Ukrainian refugees and the Cabinet Secretary’s Budget announcement: FOI release

Information requested

Information regarding funding being provided by the Scottish Government to support Ukrainian refugees as well as the Cabinet Secretary’s Budget announcement for 2022-23.

Response

Local Government funding:

1. The Cabinet Secretary presented the 2022-23 Scottish Budget to the Scottish Parliament on the 9th of December 2021. At the time the 2022-23 Scottish Budget was presented all available funding was allocated in full.

2. Confirmation was received from the UK Government as part of their Supplementary Estimates process in January 2022 of additional funding (Barnett consequentials) for the 2021-22 financial year.

3. The additional funding provided by the UK Government supported two major Ministerial announcements. Firstly £290 million to allow the provision of £150 to 1.85 million households, dependant on their council tax status, to help support the cost of living crisis, along with a further £10 million for additional fuel insecurity payments. Secondly, an additional £120 million of funding to be allocated to Local Government. Councils will be able to utilise this £120 million of funding to manage additional budget pressures for 2022-23 as they see fit.

Ukraine refugee funding:

4. Given the urgent humanitarian crisis occurring in Ukraine at present the Scottish Government has agreed to provide support by becoming a super sponsor for Ukrainian refugees fleeing the conflict.

5. A total of £15m has been earmarked to facilitate the effective and timely integration of arrivals from Ukraine in partnership with local authorities and the Scottish Refugee Council. This includes £11.2m of funding for Local Government which is earmarked for refurbishment of housing (£7.2m) and to ensure capacity within their resettlement teams to respond to the wide variety of needs of the people arriving in Scotland (£4m).

6. This spending is to be funded from savings made elsewhere in the Social Justice, Housing and Local Government portfolio budget, which have emerged in the final quarter of this year.None of these savings were identified at the time that Ministers made the statement that all funding had been allocated. The provision of this funding does not impact on either the costs of living commitments or the additional £120 million in funding that is being provided to Local Government.

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