Funds allocated by the EU for Scottish projects: FOI release

Information requested

In a blog published on 6th June 2024, Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) said this:

“The commitment of €647 million leaves around €136 million from the funds allocated by the EU which cannot be committed to Scottish projects as all spend had to cease at the end of 2023.”

In the Scottish Parliament on 26th June 2024, the following exchange occurred:

Brian Whittle (South Scotland) (Con)

I will try again to get an answer to the question that was posed by my colleagues and has been avoided by the Deputy First Minister. I will put it really simply: how much of the €136 million that was not committed at the end of 2023 is still eligible to be reclaimed?

Kate Forbes

We will try to reclaim all of it.

Please can you confirm that the Scottish Government’s position is that all of the €136m is potentially reclaimable from the EU, and therefore that the SPICe blog of 6th June 2024 contained inaccurate information?

Response

The figure referred to in the question (€136m) relates to funding that has not been allocated to support activities funded through the 2014-2020 European programme. The Scottish Government is committed to working with the European Commission to maximise all expenditure.

This will include additional expenditure that utilises the EC’s Fast Care initiative to support the resettlement of Ukrainian refugees in Scotland At no time was funding to Lead Partners reduced unless specifically requested by the Lead Partner.

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