The financial case for independence: FOI release

Information requested

• Scotland's balance of payments figures for the past two financial years.
• Extrapolated GERS figures which show that Scotland's "deficit" is ACTUALLY Scotland's share of the UK debt.
• Scottish Exports for the past two financial years
• Scottish Imports for the past two financial years
• England's deficit
• England's exports for past two financial years
• England's imports for the past two financial years.
• Figures for Government Expenditure and Revenue Statistics (England)

Response

Some of the information you have requested is available from the Scottish Government and other websites. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy. I will need your postal address for this. I've provided some relevant figures where available, and provided links to where you may find further information that will be of interest to you.

Scotland's balance of payments figures for the past two financial years.

There are no official figures available for Scotland's Balance of Payments. Some components are available. Scotland's Primary Income Account is available as experimental statistics published in the Gross National Income (GNI) release. You can find this here: Primary income accounts and gross national income (GNI): 1998-2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

There are no figures available for Scotland's Secondary Income Account which would be required to complete a Balance of Payment's analysis.

The Balance of Trade figures for onshore Scotland are available in the Quarterly National Accounts for Scotland (QNAS). This is available here: GDP Quarterly National Accounts: 2023 Quarter 1 (January to March) - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . Table G1 in the Other National Accounts Summary Tables provides figures for onshore Scotland's exports to the Rest of the World and to the Rest of the UK, and imports from the Rest of the World and from the Rest of the UK. Further information about trade flows from the Continental Shelf is available as experimental estimates from our Supply and Use Satellite Accounts for Extra Regio Activities publication - available here: Supply and Use Satellite Accounts for Extra-Regio Activities: 1998-2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Note: Balance of payment figures are also not available for the other countries of the UK, or for the English regions.

Extrapolated GERS figures which show that Scotland's "deficit" is ACTUALLY Scotland's share of the UK debt.

These figures are not available.

Scottish Exports for the past two financial years

As mentioned above, these are available from the link provided in the QNAS publication.

Total exports from onshore Scotland were £89.9 billion in 2021/22, and £105.7 billion in 2022/23.

Scottish Imports for the past two financial years

Likewise, these are available from the link provided in the QNAS publication.

Total imports to onshore Scotland were £111.0 billion in 2021/22, and £125.4 billion in 2022/23.

England's deficit

England's deficit, as estimated by the Office for National Statistics, was £233.1 billion in 2020/21 and £64.1 billion in 2021/22. Figures for 2022/23 are not yet available.

Further information may be found here: Country and regional public sector finances, UK - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk) This link also provides contact detail in ONS if you require anything further.

England's exports for past two financial years

These figures are not available as there are no estimates of England's exports to the Rest of the UK.

England's imports for the past two financial years.

Similarly, these figures are not available as there are no estimates of England's imports from the Rest of the UK. You may wish to consult ONS for more detail.

Figures for Government Expenditure and Revenue Statistics (England)

The nearest potential source for England is ONS' Country and Regional Public Sector Finances publication - see link above. This shows England's estimated Revenues, Expenditure and Net Fiscal balance corresponding to the main outputs of the Scottish Government's GERS publication.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.