Lost revenue from Scottish Government schemes: FOI release

Information requested

Can you provide me through Freedom of information the amount of Government lost revenue from:

1. Freezing of council tax for NINE years, a few years ago?

2. Free bus passes for all up to 22 years of age?

3. Free school meals?

4. Free prescriptions?

5. Free baby boxes?

Response

I will provide an answer to each of your requests in the order they were made in your correspondence. Please note that I am treating ‘government lost revenue’ as government expenditure for each of your requests.

1. Freezing of council tax for NINE years, a few years ago?

The Financial Scrutiny Unit Briefing on Local Government Finance: facts and figures, 1999-2017; published by National Records of Scotland contains data on the cost of the Council Tax Freeze. This can be found here; [ARCHIVED CONTENT] (nrscotland.gov.uk); information on the cost of the Council Tax Freeze can be found on page 10.

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.

2. Free bus passes for all up to 22 years of age?

The answer to this request is that the costs for the Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme at 31 March 2024 since its launch are £251,883,206. This includes reimbursement to operators as well as implementation and ongoing operational costs. It should be noted that, as operators have up to twelve months to claim for journey reimbursement, this figure may be subject to change.

3. Free school meals?

The answer to this request is as follows: existing free school meal provision is supported by a total annual investment of £169.8m of revenue funding. This supports the provision of free school meals for all pupils in Primary 1 - Primary 5, all pupils in special schools, and children in Primary 6 – Secondary 6 who meet the eligibility criteria, available here: Free school meals - mygov.scot. In 2024/25 we are providing a further £22m in revenue to help support the next phase of free school meal expansion, which will be to primary 6 & 7 pupils in receipt of the Scottish Child Payment.

4. Free prescriptions?

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. Public Health Scotland publishes a yearly report named the ‘Prescription Cost Analysis’ which outlines annual total expenditure on prescriptions from community pharmacy in Scotland. Last year’s report can be found below using the first link. Older reports can be found dating back to 2001 using the second link:

Dispenser payments and prescription cost analysis - Financial year 2022 to 2023 - Dispenser payments and prescription cost analysis - Publications - Public Health Scotland

[ARCHIVED CONTENT] Prescribing and Medicines | Publications | Health Topics | ISD Scotland (nrscotland.gov.uk)

5. Free baby boxes?

The answer to your request is as follows: since Scotland’s Baby Box programme began on 15 June 2017 until Friday 29 March 2024, the Scottish Government has delivered 296,335 Baby Boxes to families across Scotland at a total cost of £55,991,873.47.

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.