Government Expenditure & Revenue Scotland 2015-16
Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) for 2015-16.
Annex A: Supplementary Tables
This section presents supplementary tables on public sector revenue and expenditure in Scotland.
Table A.1 below shows the population figures used in calculating per head estimates in GERS.
Table A.1: Financial Year Population Estimates (thousands) | |||||
2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 | |
Scotland | 5,303 | 5,317 | 5,333 | 5,354 | 5,375 |
UK | 63,390 | 63,805 | 64,228 | 64,725 | 65,226 |
As % of UK total | 8.4% | 8.3% | 8.3% | 8.3% | 8.2% |
Note: Financial year estimates are calculated as the weighted average of the relevant mid-year estimates. I.e., the 2015-16 population is estimated as three-quarters of the 2015 population plus one quarter of the 2016 population.
Table A.2 below shows the relationship between revenue, current expenditure, and the current budget balance, and then the transition from the current budget balance to the net fiscal balance.
Table A.2: Current and Capital Budgets: Scotland | |||||
£ million | |||||
2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 | |
Current Budget | |||||
Current revenue | |||||
Excluding North Sea revenue | 47,328 | 48,192 | 50,054 | 51,765 | 53,689 |
Including North Sea revenue (population share) | 48,245 | 48,712 | 50,449 | 51,951 | 53,695 |
Including North Sea revenue (geographical share) | 56,961 | 53,498 | 54,053 | 53,567 | 53,748 |
Current expenditure | 58,734 | 59,560 | 60,213 | 60,961 | 61,958 |
Capital consumption | 3,780 | 3,641 | 3,856 | 4,137 | 4,418 |
Balance on current budget | |||||
(surplus is positive, deficit is negative) | |||||
Excluding North Sea revenue | -15,186 | -15,008 | -14,015 | -13,333 | -12,688 |
Including North Sea revenue (population share) | -14,269 | -14,489 | -13,619 | -13,147 | -12,681 |
Including North Sea revenue (geographical share) | -5,553 | -9,703 | -10,015 | -11,531 | -12,628 |
Capital Budget | |||||
Capital expenditure | 7,024 | 7,935 | 6,822 | 6,917 | 6,623 |
Capital consumption | -3,780 | -3,641 | -3,856 | -4,137 | -4,418 |
Net Investment | 3,244 | 4,294 | 2,966 | 2,780 | 2,205 |
Net Fiscal Balance (surplus is positive, deficit is negative) | |||||
Excluding North Sea revenue | -18,430 | -19,303 | -16,981 | -16,114 | -14,892 |
Including North Sea revenue (population share) | -17,513 | -18,783 | -16,586 | -15,927 | -14,886 |
Including North Sea revenue (geographical share) | -8,797 | -13,997 | -12,982 | -14,311 | -14,833 |
GDP
Table A.3 below provides the financial year GDP estimates used in GERS.
Table A.3: Scottish GDP including and excluding North Sea GDP | |||||
|
£ million | ||||
2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 | |
Scottish GDP | |||||
Excluding North Sea and share of UK extra-regio | 130,031 | 133,565 | 140,055 | 144,809 | 147,072 |
Including North Sea (population share) | 132,443 | 135,584 | 142,062 | 146,259 | 148,258 |
Including North Sea (geographical share) | 153,285 | 152,309 | 158,291 | 157,502 | 156,784 |
UK GDP | 1,634,025 | 1,690,042 | 1,759,560 | 1,836,159 | 1,879,653 |
Source: Quarterly National Accounts Scotland, http://www.gov.scot/snap; ONS
Note: Scottish GDP including a geographical share of the North Sea also includes a population share of UK overseas public administration and defence activity. Table E in Quarterly National Accounts Scotland provides a more detailed breakdown.
General Government estimates
The headline GERS figures cover the whole of the public sector. As such, they include revenue and expenditure associated with public corporations such as Scottish Water and the Bank of England. They are on a financial year basis.
When conducting international comparisons, bodies such as the European Commission and the IMF present figures on a calendar year basis and covering only general government; i.e., excluding public corporations. In order to help comparisons with such figures, the table below presents the GERS results on this basis. As revenue and expenditure are primarily estimated on a financial year and public sector basis, the calendar year estimates below are illustrative and have been derived by apportioning the main GERS estimates.
The figures below are consistent with the figures that ONS publish in Table M1 of their bulletin: EU Government deficit and debt as reported to the European Commission, as published on 15 July 2016 available at the link below:
https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/governmentpublicsectorandtaxes/publicspending/bulletins/ukgovernmentdebtanddeficitforeurostatmaast/jantomar2016
Table A.4: Calendar year general government estimates: Scotland and UK | |||||
£ million | |||||
2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | |
Revenue | |||||
Non-North Sea revenue | 46,038 | 46,877 | 50,071 | 50,791 | 52,807 |
North Sea revenue (per person share) | 848 | 670 | 437 | 265 | 40 |
North Sea revenue (geographical share) | 8,999 | 6,864 | 4,497 | 2,566 | 386 |
UK | 585,347 | 593,156 | 629,936 | 641,319 | 666,166 |
Expenditure | |
||||
Scotland | 65,234 | 67,517 | 66,297 | 67,638 | 67,880 |
UK | 709,235 | 731,540 | 728,317 | 743,147 | 745,407 |
Net Fiscal Balance | |
||||
Excluding North Sea revenue | -19,196 | -20,640 | -16,225 | -16,847 | -15,073 |
Including North Sea revenue (per capita share) | -18,347 | -19,970 | -15,788 | -16,582 | -15,034 |
Including North Sea revenue (geographical share) | -10,197 | -13,777 | -11,729 | -14,281 | -14,688 |
UK | -123,888 | -138,384 | -98,381 | -101,828 | -79,274 |
% of GDP | |||||
Excluding North Sea revenue | -14.8% | -15.6% | -11.7% | -11.7% | -10.3% |
Including North Sea revenue (per capita share) | -13.9% | -14.9% | -11.2% | -11.4% | -10.2% |
Including North Sea revenue (geographical share) | -6.6% | -9.1% | -7.5% | -9.0% | -9.4% |
UK | -7.6% | -8.3% | -5.7% | -5.6% | -4.2% |
Note: As figures above are on a calendar year basis, the North Sea revenue figures differ from those shown in Chapter 2. They are consistent with those shown in Table J of Quarterly National Accounts Scotland 2016Q1
( http://www.gov.scot/topics/statistics/browse/economy/QNA2016Q1 )
Confidence intervals
A number of the revenues in GERS are based on survey estimates. As such, they have an associated statistical uncertainty. The table below presents the 95% confidence intervals associated with these revenues. Other revenues are based on administrative data, or modelled data for which confidence intervals are not available. Estimates are not presented for these revenues. Expenditure is primarily based on administrative data, and therefore confidence intervals are not presented for expenditure.
Although tobacco duties and alcohol duties are both based on the Living Costs and Food Survey, the confidence interval for alcohol is larger. This is because the methodology for calculating alcohol duties uses more disaggregate survey data to reflect the different levels of duty, and revenue, received from different types of alcohol. This lower level survey data has a correspondingly larger uncertainty.
Table A.5: Confidence intervals around survey based apportionments: Scotland | |||||
£ million | |||||
Central estimate | 95% lower bound | 95% upper bound | Range | Range (%) | |
Income tax | 12,151 | 12,029 | 12,272 | +/-122 | +/-1.0% |
National insurance contributions | 9,323 | 9,230 | 9,416 | +/-93 | +/-1.0% |
VAT | 11,228 | 10,981 | 11,475 | +/-247 | +/-2.2% |
Tobacco duties | 1,189 | 1,169 | 1,209 | +/-20 | +/-1.7% |
Alcohol duties | 996 | 916 | 1,076 | +/-80 | +/-8.0% |
Betting and gaming and duties | 225 | 222 | 228 | +/-3 | +/-1.4% |
Insurance premium tax | 258 | 253 | 263 | +/-5 | +/-2.0% |
Total survey based apportionments | 35,370 | 34,800 | 35,940 | +/-570 | +/-1.6% |
Amendments to the Country and Regional Analysis database
A number of significant improvements have been made to the HM Treasury Country and Regional Analysis ( CRA) database in recent years to apportion expenditure more accurately to countries and regions of the UK. While many anomalies in previous editions of the CRA have been addressed and are now reflected in both CRA 2015 and this GERS report, a small number of supplementary amendments to the CRA 2015 dataset are made in producing GERS. The aim of these refinements is to ensure that the public sector expenditure figure for Scotland captures as accurately as possible expenditure for the benefit of Scottish residents.
The amendments made to the CRA in producing this edition of GERS are shown in Table A.6. They are discussed in the detailed expenditure methodology paper available at http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Economy/GERS/Methodology.
In 2014-15, UK capital expenditure in the CRA associated with the London Olympics is negative. This is because the capital receipts associated with the sale of the former Olympic Village were greater than new investment, and so net capital expenditure is negative.
In GERS, Scotland is allocated none of the capital expenditure associated with the London Olympics. As the default approach to London Olympics expenditure would be to apportion Scotland a population share of the negative UK expenditure in 2014-15 recorded in the CRA database, apportioning Scotland a zero share increases Scottish expenditure.
Table A.6: Amendments to Estimates of Total Public Sector Expenditure on Services from CRA 2015 | |||||
|
£ million | ||||
2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 | |
Nuclear-related expenditure | -139 | -164 | -174 | -179 | - |
London Olympics | -55 | -43 | -1 | 19 | - |
Pensions revisions | -17 | -17 | -18 | -19 | - |
Other minor revisions | -9 | -33 | -30 | -50 | - |
Total | -220 | -256 | -224 | -228 | - |
Note: Amendments do not include EU Transactions
As the CRA for 2015-16 is not yet published, there are no formal amendments to individual spending lines. The 2014-15 adjustments are in effect carried forward into 2015-16, adjusted for the spending of the responsible department. Further detail is provided in the expenditure methodology note.
Expenditure accounting adjustments
Spending in GERS is based on the HM Treasury Total Expenditure on Services ( TES) concept, which accounts for around 90% of total spending. Accounting adjustments are used to move from TES to Total Managed Expenditure ( TME), the primary measure of public spending used in the UK Public Sector Finances. As discussed in Chapter 1, for the majority of these adjustments, accompanying adjustments are included in revenue estimates, and therefore do not affect the net fiscal balance or current budget balance. This is shown in more detail in Table A.9.
In order to present Scottish Government and Local Government spending on a TME basis in GERS, it is necessary to allocate different parts of the accounting adjustments to either the Scottish Government or other UK Government departments. Currently, capital consumption (excluding that associated with Network Rail), VAT refunds, the subsidy to the Housing Revenue Account, and Local Authority Pensions are allocated to the Scottish Government or Scottish Local Government. Other elements are allocated to other UK Government departments operating in Scotland.
Table A.7 below shows the accounting adjustments applied to UK spending in GERS to move from TES to TME. Table A.8 shows the adjustments for Scotland. As discussed in Chapter 3, the ONS has reclassified the Special Purpose Vehicle set up to deliver the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route ( AWPR) to be part of the public sector. Decisions on the bodies set up to deliver the Edinburgh Royal Hospital for Sick Children and the Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary are expected later this year. These are all projects being delivered by the Scottish Government non-profit distributing ( NPD) model.
Since the ONS decision on the AWPR, the Scottish Government has begun recording spending for all three projects on the UK Government's accounting system. As such, expenditure associated with all three projects is included in the TES measure used by HM Treasury in their Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses publication. However, ONS have not yet incorporated any expenditure associated with the projects into their estimate of TME in the UK Public Sector Finances. For the AWPR, the ONS is waiting for a final decision as to whether the expenditure will be counted as government expenditure or public corporation spending. For the health projects, no ONS decision has been made on their classification, and as such the Scottish Government has pre-empted the ONS by reporting them within its spending.
As the ONS do not currently include the AWPR or health projects expenditure in the Public Sector Finances, the expenditure is not included in total expenditure for either Scotland or the UK in GERS, and is removed as part of the TES to TME accounting adjustments. As all the expenditure is associated with the Scottish Government, this has a relatively greater impact on Scottish expenditure.
As discussed in Chapter 3, Network Rail expenditure from 2015-16 is now included within the transport spending line, and as such accounting adjustments are no longer required.
Table A.7: Expenditure Accounting Adjustment: UK | |||||
|
£ million | ||||
2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 | |
UK total managed expenditure ( TME) | 715,105 | 730,822 | 735,913 | 746,611 | 753,027 |
UK total expenditure on services ( TES) | 661,279 | 664,033 | 673,090 | 684,284 | 698,268 |
UK accounting adjustment | 53,826 | 66,789 | 62,823 | 62,327 | 54,759 |
of which current expenditure: | |||||
Central government capital consumption | 16,671 | 17,129 | 17,583 | 17,952 | 18,414 |
Local government capital consumption | 9,030 | 9,547 | 10,072 | 10,570 | 11,045 |
Current VAT refunds | 11,663 | 11,522 | 11,557 | 11,434 | 11,790 |
Imputed subsidy from Local Authorities to the Housing Revenue Account 1 | 441 | 354 | 530 | 776 | 476 |
Imputed flows for Renewable Obligation Certificates 2 | 1,471 | 1,966 | 2,532 | 3,064 | 3,900 |
Local authority pensions | 1,881 | 1,966 | 1,862 | 1,900 | 1,900 |
Network Rail | 2,640 | 2,810 | 2,615 | 2,402 | 0 |
British Transport Police Service Agreements | 264 | 221 | 279 | 238 | 145 |
Current expenditure residual | -881 | 1,793 | 3,853 | 3,002 | -3,554 |
of which capital expenditure: | . | . | . | . | . |
Capital VAT refunds | 2,222 | 2,137 | 2,089 | 2,168 | 2,236 |
Network Rail | -451 | -321 | 2,405 | -501 | 0 |
Royal Mail Pension Plan | 0 | 9,460 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
English Housing Associations | 7,001 | 6,097 | 6,950 | 7,100 | 7,900 |
Crossrail | 517 | 1,205 | 1,123 | 1,082 | 829 |
Scottish NPD projects | 0 | 0 | 0 | -128 | -364 |
Capital expenditure residual | 1,358 | 903 | -627 | 1,268 | 42 |
1 The Housing Revenue Account ( HRA) is classified as a Public Corporation by the ONS, which means that they pay dividends on their profits to local authorities. To ensure that these dividends are non-negative, the ONS impute a subsidy from local authorities to HRAs to cover any shortfall (offset in Public Corporation gross operating surplus, which scores on the revenue side of the account).
2 Renewable Obligation Certificates are bought and sold by energy companies. The ONS have decided that these flows should be channelled through central government and so impute offsetting amounts of spending and income.
Table A.8: Expenditure Accounting Adjustment: Scotland | |||||
|
£ million | ||||
2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 | |
Scottish total managed expenditure ( TME) | 65,758 | 67,495 | 67,035 | 67,879 | 68,581 |
Scottish total expenditure on services ( TES) | 61,574 | 62,293 | 62,399 | 63,297 | 64,727 |
Scottish accounting adjustment | 4,184 | 5,202 | 4,636 | 4,582 | 3,854 |
Percentage of UK accounting adjustment | 7.8% | 7.8% | 7.4% | 7.4% | 7.0% |
Of which current expenditure: | |||||
Central government capital consumption | 1,374 | 1,349 | 1,441 | 1,394 | 1,467 |
Local government capital consumption | 882 | 948 | 992 | 1,043 | 1,089 |
Current VAT refunds | 1,092 | 1,092 | 1,035 | 1,027 | 1,062 |
Imputed subsidy from Local Authorities to the Housing Revenue Account 1 | 35 | 28 | 41 | 61 | 37 |
Imputed flows for Renewable Obligation Certificates 2 | 175 | 233 | 300 | 364 | 463 |
Local authority pensions | 171 | 173 | 169 | 176 | 176 |
Network Rail | 237 | 175 | 135 | 60 | 0 |
British Transport Police Service Agreements | 23 | 19 | 24 | 20 | 12 |
Current expenditure residual | -74 | 149 | 320 | 249 | -293 |
Of which capital expenditure: | |||||
Capital VAT refunds | 208 | 202 | 187 | 195 | 201 |
Network Rail | -50 | -30 | 45 | 19 | 0 |
Royal Mail Pension Plan | 0 | 788 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
English Housing Associations | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Crossrail | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Scottish NPD projects | 0 | 0 | 0 | -128 | -364 |
Capital expenditure residual | 112 | 76 | -53 | 104 | 3 |
1, 2 See notes to Table A.7
The table below shows which parts of the Scottish expenditure accounting adjustments are included as revenues, and where they appear in the revenue tables.
Table A.9: Accounting Adjustments, Revenue and Expenditure: Scotland, 2015-16 | |||
Expenditure AA | Revenue AA | Revenue line | |
Of which current expenditure: | |||
Central government capital consumption | 1,467 | 1,467 | Gross operating surplus |
Local government capital consumption | 1,089 | 1,089 | Gross operating surplus |
Current VAT refunds | 1,062 | 1,062 | VAT |
Imputed subsidy from Local Authorities to the Housing Revenue Account | 37 | - | n/a |
Imputed flows for Renewable Obligation Certificates | 463 | 463 | Other taxes, royalties, and adjustments |
Local authority pensions | 176 | - | n/a |
British Transport Police Service Agreements | 12 | 12 | Other taxes, royalties, and adjustments |
Current expenditure residual | -293 | - | n/a |
Of which capital expenditure: | 0 | ||
Capital VAT refunds | 201 | 201 | VAT |
Network Rail | 0 | - | n/a |
Royal Mail Pension Plan | 0 | - | n/a |
English Housing Associations | 0 | - | n/a |
Crossrail | 0 | - | n/a |
Scottish NPD projects | -364 | - | n/a |
Capital expenditure residual | 3 | - | n/a |
Total accounting adjustments | 3,854 | 4,295 |
Reconciliation to published Scottish Government and Scottish Local Government budgets
There are a number of differences between the figures for spending by Scottish Government and Local Authorities presented in Table 3.8 and figures presented in Scottish Government budgets and Scottish Local Government Finance Statistics. The key differences relate to accounting treatments, particularly of pensions, VAT refunds, and depreciation.
GERS uses National Accounts principles, which show pensions expenditure as the difference between monies paid into the pension fund and monies paid out, and which shows gross expenditure before VAT refunds. Depreciation in GERS is based on the concept of capital consumption, which uses estimates of the value of assets used to provide services in terms of current asset values.
In contrast, budget documents use financial accounting principles, which include a measure of future liabilities of pension funds, and which shows net expenditure after VAT refunds. Depreciation is based on historical asset prices.
A more detailed description of the differences is provided in Box 5.2 of GERS 2014-15.
http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2015/03/1422/8
Table A.10 below shows the reconciliation of published Scottish Government and Scottish Local Government Finance figures to the figures published in the CRA and GERS. This shows figures for 2014-15 rather than 2015-16, as this is the latest year for which published accounts were available for both the Scottish Government and Scottish Local Government. 2015-16 figures in GERS are based on provisional outturn estimates.
Table A.10: Reconciliation of published budget documents to GERS expenditure Table 3.8 | |
£ billion | |
2014-15 | |
Scottish Government | |
Published Scottish Government budget 1 | 36.4 |
Spending by Audit Scotland and Scottish Parliament | 0.1 |
Public corporation capital spending | 0.5 |
Timing differences | 0.1 |
Total Scottish Government and public corporation ( PC) expenditure | 37.1 |
Adjustments to align budget to CRA measure of spending | |
Grants to other public sector bodies (e.g. local government) | -10.1 |
Pensions | -3.4 |
Depreciation | -0.8 |
Financial transactions associated with student loans and public corporations | -0.4 |
Adjustments to move from spend 'in' Scotland to spend 'for' Scotland 2 | -0.1 |
Other | 0.2 |
Final Scottish Government and PC expenditure on services for Scotland | 22.0 |
Scottish Local Government | |
Published Local Government gross current expenditure 3 | 12.5 |
Income excluding grants from Central Government 4 | -2.0 |
Housing benefit | 1.8 |
Published Local Government gross capital expenditure 5 | 2.2 |
Income from sales of capital assets 6 | -0.1 |
Final Scottish Local Government expenditure on services for Scotland | 14.4 |
Scottish Government, PC, & Local Government expenditure on services for Scotland | 36.4 |
National Accounts adjustments 7 | |
Capital consumption | 2.3 |
VAT refunds | 1.2 |
Other accounting adjustments | 0.0 |
Final Scottish Government, PC, & Scottish Local Government TME | 40.0 |
1 Scottish Government Draft Budget 2016-17 Annex G
2 These are adjustments made to Scottish Government spending in HM Treasury's CRA publication. They primarily relate to spending on museums and pensions, to reflect where spending undertaken by the Scottish Government benefits residents from the rest of the UK.
3 Scottish Local Government Finance Statistics 2014-15, Annex B. Total General Fund (excluding the Housing Revenue Account and trading with the public) employee costs, operating costs, and support services costs, less recharges
4 As Note 2. Total General Fund (excluding the Housing Revenue Account and trading with the public) income less government grants
5 As Note 2. All services total gross capital expenditure (Annex H)
6 As Note 2. Total capital receipts from sales of assets (Annex I)
7 See Table A.8
Contact
Email: Mairi Spowage, economic.statistics@gov.scot
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