Funding provided to Council Authorities for music tuition: FOI release

Information requested

“I would like to request information on funding provided to each Council Authority for music tuition. In particular:”

1. How much is each council getting in terms of funding for music tuition in the 2024-25 academic year? How much did each Council get for previous and future years? (eg. 23-24, 25-26?)

2. How was it decided how much each council will receive?

3. How is it decided how this funding is allocated within the local authority area and is there a minimum level of service/provision to be provided? Is there any criteria set by the Scottish Government with regards to this?

4. How is service provision equality considered across the Local Authority area? Is there any criteria set by the Scottish Government with regards to this?

Response

To respond to your request, I have set out answers to each of your four questions below.

Instrumental Music Tuition Funding - Approach to allocation
Question 1: How much is each council getting in terms of funding for music tuition in the 2024-25 academic year? How much did each Council get for previous and future years? (e.g. 23-24, 25-26?)

Some of the information you have requested is available from the following websites:

Scottish Local Government Finance 'Green Book' 2022-23 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
Scottish local government finance - Green Book: 2023-2024 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
scotland.shinyapps.io/sg-scottish-local-government-finance-green-book-2024-25/

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 enclose a copy of some of the information you requested and have attached the funding allocation for 2021-22 as a word file.

In order to assist with presenting the key information to answer your question, I have also included a table below that outlines how much funding each council received in terms of music tuition for each requested year. You may wish to note that in 2021-22 and 2022-23 this was calculated on an academic year bases with 2023-24 and 2024-25 being allocated on a financial basis.

£12 million was committed for financial year 2023-24. The Scottish Government and COSLA Leaders agreed that funding would move to be distributed on a fully per pupil basis, removing a ‘top up’ which compensated authorities for the gap between their per pupil share and fee income budgeted for in the year the policy was introduced, and that funding would be provided on the basis of financial year, rather than academic year.

Removal Of Instrumental Music Charges Funding Breakdown
*To note
AY = Academic Year FY = Financial Year

Local Authority	Allocation 2021-22 AY	Allocation 2022-23 AY	Allocation 2023-24 FY	Allocation: 2024-25 FY
Aberdeen City	£447,000	£556,000	£482,000	£444,849
Aberdeenshire	£527,000	£686,000	£663,000	£622,905
Angus	£164,000	£227,000	£253,000	£253,668
Argyll & Bute	£90,000	£132,000	£162,000	£168,585
City of Edinburgh	£370,000	£598,000	£831,000	£916,819
Clackmannanshire	£117,000	£146,000	£128,000	£112,543
Dumfries & Galloway	£133,000	£213,000	£290,000	£312,175
Dundee City	£131,000	£209,000	£288,000	£315,321
East Ayrshire	£116,000	£183,000	£251,000	£274,462
East Dunbartonshire	£213,000	£289,000	£301,000	£298,930
East Lothian	£240,000	£305,000	£280,000	£257,289
East Renfrewshire	£340,000	£415,000	£347,000	£302,670
Falkirk	£156,000	£246,000	£338,000	£365,088
Fife	£555,000	£767,000	£842,000	£839,081
Glasgow City	£501,000	£804,000	£1,109,000	£1,219,00
Highland	£1,098,000	£1,229,000	£771,000	£516,092
Inverclyde	£70,000	£111,000	£151,000	£165,065
Midlothian	£165,000	£226,000	£240,000	£240,218
Moray	£110,000	£162,000	£198,000	£206,518
Na h-Eileanan Siar	£24,000	£37,000	£51,000	£54,699
North Ayrshire	£146,000	£220,000	£283,000	£296,940
North Lanarkshire	£351,000	£555,000	£760,000	£821,704
Orkney Islands	£20,000	£32,000	£44,000	£47,234
Perth & Kinross	£333,000	£410,000	£350,000	£306,343
Renfrewshire	£170,000	£272,000	£375,000	£410,129
Scottish Borders	£118,000	£176,000	£228,000	£241,204
Shetland Islands	£77,000	£91,000	£70,000	£54,937
South Ayrshire	£102,000	£162,000	£222,000	£240,167
South Lanarkshire	£321,000	£516,000	£713,000	£781,832
Stirling	£161,000	£216,000	£223,000	£214,952
West Dunbartonshire	£89,000	£141,000	£191,000	£205,260
West Lothian	£458,000	£576,000	£519,000	£473,669

In your question, you also asked about the allocation for 2025/26. The Scottish Government does not yet have agreed funding amounts for financial year 2025-26 as these will be subject to Scottish Government budget setting which will not be concluded until December. This means that we do not hold this particular item of information currently and this is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you requested.

Decision making behind the amount each council receives.
Question 2: How was it decided how much each council will receive?

The decision on the overall level of funding for Scottish councils (sometimes called the “quantum” of funding) is decided as part of the annual budget setting process by Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament.

How that overall amount is then distributed between the local authorities is agreed each year by the COSLA/Scottish Government Settlement and Distribution Group. The funding is currently allocated to each council on a financial year and “per pupil” basis; in order words, the overall amount is divided between local authorities based on number of pupils in each authority.

Decision on funding allocated within the local authority, minimum level of service and criteria set by the Scottish Government.
Question 3: How is it decided how this funding is allocated within the local authority area and is there a minimum level of service/provision to be provided? Is there any criteria set by the Scottish Government with regards to this?

The Scottish Government does not issue formal guidance to local authorities on how to manage their delivery of instrumental music tuition in schools and the Scottish Government does not prescribe a minimum level of service/provision.

However, the Scottish Government does issue what is known as a “Circular” each year to all of Scotland’s 32 local authorities providing them with information on their per pupil allocation. The Circulars have confirmed to local authorities that “where a young person takes up instrumental music tuition, the expectation is that there will continue to be no charges for this”. The Circulars have also provided authorities with broad parameters on how they may wish to use their funding. For example, previous Circulars have provided examples of how the funding may be used such as 

• recruitment of additional Instrumental Music Instructors (IMIs)
• funding increased capacity in currently employed part-time IMIs; or
• the purchase of additional instruments to meet demand.

It should be noted that this is a guide, and Scottish Government does not prescribe to local authorities how their funding allocation should be spent in detail. It is the local authority’s responsibility to take decisions on how they use their overall allocation of funding to meet the needs of pupils across the authority.

Consequently, this means that we do not hold information on “how this funding is allocated within the local authority area” and therefore this is a formal notice under section 17(1) OF FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. You may wish to contact individual local authorities to find this information for each local authority area.

Service Provision Equality across Local Authorities and Criteria Set by Scottish Government.
Question 4: How is service provision equality considered across the Local Authority area? Is there any criteria set by the Scottish Government with regards to this?

The Scottish Government does not issue guidance to local authorities or issue set criteria to local authorities on how to manage service provision equality for their delivery of instrumental music tuition in schools – which we are interpreting as meaning fairness and equality of funding allocation between schools. Consequently, we do not hold this particular item of information, and this is a formal notice under section 17(1) OF FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. You may wish to contact individual local authorities to obtain this information.

About FOI

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

FOI 202400435333 - Information Released - Annex

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