Scottish Budget: draft budget 2018-2019

Chapter 10: Communities, Social Security and Equalities

Portfolio Responsibilities

The portfolio’s focus is on our overarching aims to create a fairer Scotland, support inclusive growth, and promote community empowerment and the participation of people in all aspects of Scottish life. Further to the Programme for Government, we continue to prioritise funding to support the continuation of our major expansion of affordable housing; to tackle fuel poverty and support our targets on climate change; to support the planning system; to regenerate, strengthen and empower our communities; to support the third sector and develop social enterprise; to promote equality; to continue our efforts to tackle poverty and inequality, eradicate homelessness and rough sleeping; to mitigate the worst impacts of the UK Government’s welfare cuts; and to continue to develop policy and operational plans and the delivery of devolved benefits with our new social security powers.

The portfolio also incorporates the Scottish Government’s funding for local authorities in Scotland, allowing them to deliver a full range of local services, from education and social care to transport and planning.

Our Priorities

Creating a Fairer Scotland

Building a fairer country is at the heart of this Government’s ambitions. In October 2016, our Fairer Scotland Action Plan set out 50 concrete actions for tackling inequality and reducing poverty. These include a new Fairer Scotland Duty on public bodies, which comes into force in April 2018; ambitious statutory income targets to eradicate child poverty, which are now in place through the Child Poverty (Scotland) Bill, passed unanimously by the Scottish Parliament in November 2017; and two complementary programmes – one for the third sector and the other for communities activity – totalling £29 million in funding, including £12.5 million from the European Social Fund, which will look at innovative approaches to combating poverty and tackling inequality locally. A progress report ^[1] was published in November 2017, also setting out a range of new social justice priorities including a £50 million Tackling Child Poverty Fund over the course of the Child Poverty Delivery Plan; a new scheme to fund access to free sanitary products in schools, colleges and universities; and funding to local authorities to support their scoping work for pilots of a citizen’s basic income.

We know that accessible, affordable, energy-efficient housing can contribute significantly to tackling poverty and addressing health inequalities, building confidence and capacity in communities.

We are ambitious for housing across all tenures through the More Homes Scotland approach, committing over £3 billion to deliver 50,000 affordable homes over the five years of this Parliament. In partnership with councils, housing associations and developers, government investment in housing will, on average, leverage economic activity of around £1.7 billion per year, supporting up to 14,000 full-time equivalent jobs.

House builders in Scotland will also have access to the new Building Scotland Fund
(set out in the Economy, Jobs and Fair Work chapter) to boost their activities.

We will continue to help make Scotland’s homes more affordable to heat by again making available over £100 million for our Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland ( HEEPS), part of our commitment made last year to make half-a-billion pounds available over four years for Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Programme ( SEEP).

We want everyone to have an appropriate, sustainable, settled home. That is why the Programme for Government set out a national commitment to eradicate rough sleeping and transform the use of temporary accommodation. The Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Group, created in October 2017, has already identified the immediate actions needed to tackle rough sleeping this winter. In spring 2018 the Group will provide long-term recommendations for action to end rough sleeping and transform the use of temporary accommodation. From 2018-19 we will create an Ending Homelessness Together Fund of £50 million over five years to drive change and improvement in line with these recommendations and ensure progress towards ending homelessness.

We will sustain action to protect our society’s poorest members from the most damaging effects of the UK Government’s austerity policies through a range of mitigation measures. We will provide £50 million to continue to fully mitigate the ‘bedroom tax’ through Discretionary Housing Payments, and sustain funding for the Scottish Welfare Fund to help as many people as possible affected by emergencies, financial crises and the effects of the UK Government’s welfare cuts. Since the Scottish Welfare Fund was set up in April 2013, £140 million worth of grants have been given to around 265,000 households in Scotland.

We will also continue to tackle the effects of the UK Government’s austerity policies through other means such as our Fair Food Fund, which we are increasing from
£1 million to £1.5 million. The Fund supports projects which promote dignity and develop sustainable solutions to food poverty. We will also continue to maximise the incomes of people through our benefit take-up work to ensure people receive all the financial support to which they are entitled.

The Social Security (Scotland) Bill was introduced on 20 June 2017. The Bill sets up a framework for a new, Scottish social security system, drawing on the responses received to our wide public consultation and engagement programme. It transposes 11 devolved social security benefits onto a Scottish legislative platform, allowing Scottish Ministers to shape a distinctly Scottish social security system based on dignity and respect.

In addition, we want Scotland to be an open, welcoming and inclusive country, and will continue to give priority to tackling inequality and to promoting equality by investing over £22 million in 2018-19. This resource will support human rights, work to prevent violence against women and girls and strengthen community engagement.

Empowering People and Communities

Building on the recommendations of the Christie Commission, regeneration activity seeks to devolve power to communities, empowering them and involving local residents because, most of all, regeneration is about people themselves.

In 2018-19 we will continue to invest in regeneration activity to stimulate inclusive growth and tackle inequality in disadvantaged communities. This investment supports local regeneration projects which respond to local circumstances, increase jobs and opportunities for business, and improves the wellbeing of communities.

As part of our approach to prevention, we want communities across Scotland to be able to participate in, and make decisions on, the priorities that matter most to them. In 2018-19 we will continue to invest in the Empowering Communities Fund, to ensure that communities are well equipped and supported to deliver long-term solutions that tackle poverty and inequality on their own terms.

We will continue to work with local government and communities on the commitment for councils to ensure at least 1 per cent of their budget will be subject to participatory budgeting supported by our Community Choices Fund. This means that thousands of people will have a direct say in how millions of pounds are spent by their councils in their communities.

Local Government Funding and Priorities

Scotland’s local authorities continue to be critical partners in the Scottish Government’s transformative programme of public service reform. Our local authorities are integral and essential elements of the overall good governance of Scotland providing the essential and high quality services the people of Scotland expect and deserve. The overall funding package for 2018-19 builds on the priorities in the 2017 Programme for Government and continues to be focused on delivery of our joint priorities of sustainable economic growth together with protecting frontline services and the most vulnerable in our society.

In 2018-19 we will make available to local government a total funding package amounting to £10,384.1 million. This figure includes both general and specific revenue and capital grants as well as the 2018-19 distributable amount of non-domestic rate income. Local authorities collect and retain in full all of the non-domestic rate income collected within their area. To offer individual local authorities further protection, the Scottish Government guarantees each local authority their formula share of the combined general revenue grant and non-domestic rate income funding allocations. From April 2017 the Scottish Fiscal Commission has assumed responsibility for the independent forecasting of the non-domestic rate income used in the annual calculation of the distributable amount. Table 10.17 sets the Scottish Fiscal Commission forecasts for 2018-22 and Table 10.18 provides the details behind the calculation of the 2018-19 distributable amount.

In addition to this core local government finance settlement, the Scottish Government provides local authorities with various other funding streams for individual key government priorities (see the full explanation in the following Information Box).

2018-19 Local Government Funding

The funding available to local government through the core settlement consists of the general revenue and capital grants, the Distributable Amount of Non Domestic Rates, and a number of ring-fenced Specific Grants, both revenue and capital. The Scottish Government guarantees each local authority’s formula share of the combined general revenue grant plus the Distributable Amount of Non Domestic Rates. This central government funding is supplemented locally by council tax income collected by councils and the power to levy fees and charges for local services.

This Draft Budget sets out a total funding package for local government amounting to £10,384.1 million but this does not represent the total funding which will be provided by the Scottish Government to local government during the financial year 2018-19. This is because there are various other funding allocations linked to individual policy initiatives which are currently held within the relevant portfolios. These additional sums are summarised in Table 10.12 and the full details are provided Tables 10.13, 10.19 and 10.20.

Summary of Total 2018-19 Local Government Funding

	£m
Draft Budget Core Local Government Allocations (Table 10.13)	10,384.1
Revenue Funding (within other portfolios) (Table 10.19)	123.0
Total Core Local Government Settlement	10,507.1
Local Government Funding Outwith Core Settlement (Table 10.20)	361.0
Total Scottish Government Funding to Local Government	10,868.1

The additional funding streams set out in Table 10.19 are currently held within other portfolios within the Draft Budget and will be transferred during the course of 2018-19 to the local government settlement. These sums have been added to the Draft Budget local government finance settlement and are included in the local government finance circular which has issued today for consultation.

Over and above the money which will be included within the Local Government Finance (Scotland) Order 2018 there are a number of funding streams attached to particular portfolio policy initiatives and these are set out in Table 10.20.

The Scottish Government considers that support for the health of the people of Scotland as being about all the various services that help people to maintain their health and wellbeing, not just the frontline NHS services. Connected to this, £355 million will continue to be transferred from NHS Boards to our Integration Authorities to support Social Care. The overall settlement total of £10,384.1 million takes into account a range of financial pressures facing local authorities in 2018-19; these include an additional £66 million of funding for social care, including support for the implementation of the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016, extending the Living Wage to sleepovers and an increase in the Free Personal and Nursing Care payments. We will look to local authorities to continue to prioritise their financial support for social care.

The Scottish Government will allocate an additional £11 million of additional support for Early Learning and Childcare ( ELC) resulting from the Children’s Act 2014 together with a further £52.2 million of revenue and £150 million of capital to local authorities in 2018-19 to support the expansion in funded ELC entitlement to 1140 hours by 2020. This additional funding will enable further investment in the ELC workforce, increasing the size of the workforce and equipping existing staff with new skills and infrastructure development to expand capacity in ELC provision. This builds on the first phase of revenue and capital funding provided to local authorities in 2017-18.

We will also continue to take forward our ambitious programme of educational reform, drawing on the widest range of performance information ever gathered on Scottish education through the National Improvement Framework. We will continue to implement the key improvement activities highlighted in our National Improvement Plan, in particular the introduction of an Education Bill which will empower parents, teachers and children to make key decisions about school education. In recognising that teachers are central to achieving our ambition of delivering excellence and equity in Scottish education we will continue to commit an overall funding package of £88 million in the local government finance settlement to support both maintaining the pupil teacher ratio at a national level and ensuring that places are provided for all probationers who require one under the teacher induction scheme. We will work with Cosla to agree how delivery of this commitment is measured. The settlement also includes an additional £24 million to cover the additional full-year costs of the 2017 teachers’ pay offer for 2018-19.

Furthermore, and closely linked to Scotland’s Year of Young People 2018, each local authority area will continue to benefit from the Pupil Equity Funding with £120 million allocated in 2018-19 through the local government settlement. This forms part of the overall commitment from the Scottish Government to allocate £750 million through the Attainment Scotland Fund, over the term of the Parliament, to tackle the attainment gap. Pupil Equity Funding is already beginning to transform schools by enabling headteachers to secure the additional staffing or resources they need to support pupils affected by poverty and boost attainment levels. This is additional to the existing £59 million Attainment Scotland funding, which is outwith the local government finance settlement, and will continue to provide targeted support for those authorities and schools supporting children and young people in greatest need.

The individual local authority fair shares of this total funding package are now the subject of consultation with local government before being put to the Scottish Parliament for final approval early in the new year.

Scotland’s 32 local authorities will be required to agree to the joint priorities agreed between the Scottish Government and local government and in return will receive the full funding package. These include:

• £355 million transfer from the NHS to Integration Authorities to ensure improved outcomes on health and social care;
• £66 million to support additional investment in social care in recognition of a range of pressures local authorities are facing;
• the additional £88 million to maintain the pupil teacher ratio nationally at 2016 levels and secure places for all probationers who require one under the teacher induction scheme;
• £24 million to fully cover the 2017 teachers’ pay offer for 2018-19;
• £11 million (revenue) in respect of the initial expansion Early Learning and Childcare ( ELC) as set out in the Children and Young People’s Act 2014;
• £52.2 million (revenue) and £150 million (capital) to support the expansion in funded Early Learning and Childcare ( ELC) entitlement to 1140 hours by 2020; and
• flexibility for local authorities to increase council tax levels by up to 3 per cent, worth an estimated £77 million.

Non Domestic Rates

The Scottish Government remains committed to competitive business rates, underlined by proposals in this Draft Budget. We will use CPI as the inflationary measure to uplift the annual business rates poundage this year and accordingly set a poundage rate of 48.0p for 2018-19.

We will continue to promote the Small Business Bonus Scheme, including writing to potentially eligible businesses who have not applied, so that the scheme lifts 100,000 properties out of rates altogether and continues to provide more generous support for SMEs than elsewhere in the UK.

A package of reliefs next year worth an estimated £720 million – a record high – will mean that over half of rateable properties pay nothing.

We responded quickly to the external review of business rates, led by Ken Barclay, and accepted the majority of the recommendations made on 12 September. This included going beyond Barclay on a number of measures including creation of a Growth Accelerator. From 1 April next year when an existing property is improved or expanded there will be a 12-month delay before rates increase as a result and new build property will pay no rates until occupied and thereafter new tenants will enjoy 12 months rates free. Fresh Start relief will also be expanded to provide a greater incentive to bring all types of empty property back into economic use.

A small number of Barclay recommendations required further engagement and that process has been concluded with all remaining Barclay recommendations now accepted, with the exception being the removal of charity relief entitlement for certain university properties.

We will continue transitional arrangements for Aberdeen City and Shire offices and all but the very largest hospitality properties.

Further details are set out in Local Government Finance Circular No. 5/2017. An implementation plan for rates reform is published today.

Council Tax

The Scottish Government’s reforms to Council Tax, that build on the recommendations of the Commission on Local Tax Reform, came into effect from April 2017. These reforms protect household incomes, make local taxation fairer and ensure local authorities continue to be properly funded while becoming more accountable.

A relief scheme is in place to protect below median income households living in the highest value properties from the impact of our reforms. More widely, to support all households on low incomes, we have invested over £1 billion in the Council Tax Reduction Scheme since 2013-14, assisting almost half-a-million households each year to meet their Council Tax. Our package of Council Tax reforms introduced this year increased the child allowance in the Council Tax Reduction Scheme by 25 per cent, benefiting up to 77,000 households. We have chosen not to introduce the two child cap (which now applies to many UK Benefits) to the Council Tax Reduction Scheme and from April 2018, all care experienced young people will be exempt from Council Tax.

Future increases in Council Tax will be capped at 3 per cent. This local discretion will preserve the financial accountability of local government, whilst potentially generating around £77 million in 2018-19.

We remain committed to making local taxation more progressive whilst improving the financial accountability of local government and are open to further dialogue on options for reform.

Housing Priorities

In 2018-19 we will:

• increase investment to £756 million and work with partners to develop plans to increase the delivery of more affordable homes, the majority of which will be for social rent;
• continue to support home ownership through our Help to Buy and Open Market Shared Equity schemes units;
• continue funding for the Rural and Islands Housing Funds;
• make the first £10 million of the £50 million Ending Homelessness Together fund available to drive change and improvement towards ending homelessness;
• help tackle infrastructure blockages through a flexible grant and loan fund, and a new Rental Income Guarantee Scheme to support Build to Rent; and
• continue to tackle fuel poverty and improve the energy efficiency of Scotland’s homes through our Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland ( HEEPS).

Social Security Priorities

In 2018-19 we will:

• provide £50 million of funding to allow local authorities to fully mitigate the effects of the UK Government’s bedroom tax with additional funding for DHPs for those affected by other UK Government welfare reforms including LHA rates and benefit cap;
• sustain funding to the Scottish Welfare Fund to support people in crisis; and
• take forward development of a Scottish social security system, following the passage of the Social Security (Scotland) Bill.

Social Justice and Regeneration Priorities

In 2018-19 we will:

• introduce a Tackling Child Poverty Fund worth £50 million over the period of the Child Poverty Delivery Plan and a new Financial Health Check Guarantee for families with children;
• enhance advice services to help people maximise their resources;
• match fund up to £1 million raised by the STV’s Children’s Appeal;
• fund access to free sanitary products for students in schools, colleges and universities, and consider action to support those on low incomes;
• continue to invest capital regeneration funds to deliver inclusive growth and create opportunities in disadvantaged communities;
• continue to provide £20 million through the Empowering Communities Fund to tackle poverty and inequality;
• stimulate activity under the Town Centre Action Plan and Business Improvement Districts in Scotland to support local economies; and
• continue to deliver the Fair Food Fund to develop sustainable and dignified approaches to tackling food poverty, increasing it from £1 million to £1.5 million.

Scottish Housing Regulator Priorities

In 2018-19 the Scottish Housing Regulator will:

• regulate the housing services that social landlords deliver for tenants, homeless people and other service users; and
• regulate the standards of financial health and governance of Registered Social Landlords.

Equalities Priorities

In 2018-19 we will:

• take forward work to tackle gender inequality;
• continue implementation of Equally Safe, the Disability Delivery Plan, the BSL National Plan and the Race Equality Framework; and
• support engagement with communities to advance equality in Scotland.

Third Sector Priorities

In 2018-19 we will:

• maximise the impact of the sector in reducing inequality, working with communities to tackle tough social issues at source; and giving pace and innovation to public service reform;
• provide support and investment to the social enterprise sector, credit union movement and wider enterprising third sector;
• support work to tackle poverty and inequality through the new European Social Fund programmes; and
• work to provide the third sector with greater stability of funding and the opportunity for longer-term planning and development.

Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator Priorities

In 2018-19, the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator will:

• ensure public confidence in charities through effective regulation and sharing of information;
• support charity trustees to understand and comply with their legal duties;
• facilitate effective management via straightforward and proportionate reporting (increasing online services where appropriate); and
• investigate apparent misconduct in charities, taking remedial or protective action as appropriate.

Governance and Reform Priorities

In 2018-19 we will:

• undertake a comprehensive review of local governance with local government and the community sector, ahead of introducing a Local Democracy Bill later in this Parliament; and
• continue our work to raise awareness and promote the new rights for community groups that are part of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015.

Planning Priorities

In 2018-19 we will:

• progress a Planning Bill and wider reforms to ensure planning is a positive enabler of development that is more effectively resourced and better
  coordinated with infrastructure investment, inclusive growth, community empowerment, and sustainable placemaking;
• develop a new approach to simplified planning zones and compulsory purchase orders to support the regeneration of our places and help to diversify how we can deliver new homes;
• deliver a programme of planning and other appeals work, examination of local and strategic development plans and compulsory purchase orders, transport, energy and other infrastructure projects;
• build on the success of the integrated Digital services and make greater use of IT and innovation to improve future services; and
• support the creation and renewal of energy efficient, sustainable buildings with high standards of safety through building regulations.

Spending Plans

Table 10.01: Communities, Social Security and Equalities Spending Plans (Level 2)

Level 2	2016-17 Budget £m	2017-18 Budget £m	2018-19 Draft Budget £m
Housing	707.2	739.0	891.6
Social Security	74.3	95.9	100.2
Social Justice and Regeneration	56.5	59.2	76.1
Scottish Housing Regulator	3.7	4.0	4.7
Equalities	20.3	20.3	22.7
Third Sector	24.5	24.5	24.5
Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator	3.0	3.0	3.0
Governance and Reform	1.7	1.2	1.2
Planning	4.1	4.1	7.6
Local Government	10,152.3	10,291.0	10,384.1
Total Level 2	11,047.6	11,242.2	11,515.7
of which:
Fiscal Resource	6,959.6	7,061.0	7,146.0
Non-cash	-	0.3	0.3
Capital	1,064.0	1,255.6	1,477.1
Financial Transactions	255.5	259.5	256.3
AME	2,768.5	2,665.8	2,636.0

Table 10.02: Communities, Social Security and Equalities Spending Plans (Level 2 real terms)
at 2017-18 prices

Level 2	2016-17 Budget £m	2017-18 Budget £m	2018-19 Draft Budget £m
Housing	718.0	739.0	878.6
Social Security	75.4	95.9	98.7
Social Justice and Regeneration	57.4	59.2	75.0
Scottish Housing Regulator	3.8	4.0	4.6
Equalities	20.6	20.3	22.4
Third Sector	24.9	24.5	24.1
Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator	3.0	3.0	3.0
Governance and Reform	1.7	1.2	1.2
Planning	4.2	4.1	7.5
Local Government	10,306.9	10,291.0	10,232.6
Total Level 2	11,215.8	11,242.2	11,347.8
of which:
Fiscal Resource	7,065.6	7,061.0	7,041.8
Non-cash	-	0.3	0.3
Capital	1,080.2	1,255.6	1,455.6
Financial Transactions	259.4	259.5	252.6
AME	2,810.7	2,665.8	2,597.6

Table 10.03: Housing Spending Plans (Level 3)

Level 3	2016-17 Budget £m	2017-18 Budget £m	2018-19 Draft Budget £m
More Homes	583.1	583.6	722.5
Fuel Poverty/Energy Efficiency	103.3	114.1	114.3
Housing Support	17.7	38.0	51.2
Communities Analysis	3.1	3.3	3.6
Total Level 2	707.2	739.0	891.6
of which:
Fiscal Resource	26.2	45.5	65.7
Non-cash	-	-	-
Capital	430.5	439.0	574.6
Financial Transactions	250.5	254.5	251.3

What the Housing budget does

The capital budget, along with the TMDF budget in the Local Government settlement, will enable us to deliver more quality affordable warm homes.

Our Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland ( HEEPS) include grants to local authorities to deliver Area-Based Schemes and support to eligible households through the Warmer Homes Scotland scheme.

The budget funds a range of other housing and regeneration activities, including funding for adaptations for older and disabled Registered Social Landlord ( RSL) tenants and projects which promote best practice in dealing with homelessness and other housing issues. This budget also supports the research and analytical programme which underpins our work on housing, regeneration, social security and social justice.

Table 10.04: Social Security Spending Plans (Level 3)

Level 3	2016-17 Budget £m	2017-18 Budget £m	2018-19 Draft Budget £m
Scottish Welfare Fund	38.4	38.0	33.0
Scottish Welfare Fund - admin 1	-	-	5.0
Discretionary Housing Payments - ‘Bedroom Tax Mitigation’	35.0	47.0	50.1
Discretionary Housing Payments - other	-	10.9	10.9
Discretionary Housing Payments - admin	-	-	1.2
Social Security Programme Costs	0.9	-	-
Total Level 2	74.3	95.9	100.2
of which:
Fiscal Resource	74.3	95.9	100.2
Non-cash	-	-	-
Capital	-	-	-

1. In previous years, the administration costs of the Scottish Welfare Fund have been included in the total SWF budget line. To improve transparency, these administration costs will now be shown in a separate line. The total level of funding for the Scottish Welfare Fund remains unchanged.

What the Social Security budget does

This provides funding to tackle poverty and mitigate the impact of UK Government welfare cuts. Funding for the Scottish Welfare Fund (including administration) remains at £38 million in 2018-19, following the implementation of new review mechanisms by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman. Further spend on the developing social security programme will be supported by the Scotland Act 2016 non-tax implementation budget in the Finance and Constitution portfolio.

Table 10.05: Social Justice and Regeneration Spending Plans (Level 3)

Level 3	2016-17 Budget £m	2017-18 Budget £m	2018-19 Draft Budget £m
Fairer Scotland	8.0	6.9	27.8
Regeneration	48.5	52.3	48.3
Total Level 2	56.5	59.2	76.1
of which:
Fiscal Resource	25.1	24.2	46.1
Non-cash	-	-	-
Capital	26.4	30.0	25.0
Financial Transactions	5.0	5.0	5.0

What the Social Justice and Regeneration budget does

The budget allows us to deliver a range of actions to reduce poverty and tackle inequality.

The budget also enables us to continue to support regeneration initiatives which respond to local circumstances, involve local people in identifying the issues and co-create solutions, address market failure, and increase opportunities to attract investment and support job creation in disadvantaged areas.

Table 10.06: Scottish Housing Regulator Spending Plans (Level 3)

Level 3	2016-17 Budget £m	2017-18 Budget £m	2018-19 Draft Budget £m
Scottish Housing Regulator	3.7	4.0	4.7
Total Level 2	3.7	4.0	4.7
of which:
Fiscal Resource	3.7	3.8	3.9
Non-cash	-	0.2	0.2
Capital	-	-	0.6

What the Scottish Housing Regulator budget does

The Scottish Housing Regulator ( SHR), the independent regulator of social landlords (i.e. local authority landlords and Registered Social Landlords), has the statutory objective of safeguarding and promoting the interests of:

• nearly 610,000 tenants of social landlords;
• around 40,000 people and their families who may be homeless and seek help from local authorities;
• around 90,000 home owners who receive services from social landlords; and
• over 500 Gypsy/Traveller families who live on sites provided by social landlords.

Table 10.07: Equalities Spending Plans (Level 3)

Level 3	2016-17 Budget £m	2017-18 Budget £m	2018-19 Draft Budget £m
Equalities	20.3	20.3	22.7
Total Level 2	20.3	20.3	22.7
of which:
Fiscal Resource	20.3	20.3	22.7
Non-cash	-	-	-
Capital	-	-	-

What the Equalities budget does

Our spending on equality and human rights activities supports the drive for social justice, economic and inclusive growth, and community empowerment. The Equality budget provides resource for frontline services to tackle violence against women and girls, helps with work to address social isolation and loneliness and to strengthen community cohesion, and supports activity to address discrimination and inequality across the protected characteristics. It also builds on work in areas where Scotland is already considered to have a progressive approach, for example, around growing women’s representation, and increasing inclusion of LGBTI communities.

Table 10.08: Third Sector Spending Plans (Level 3)

Level 3	2016-17 Budget £m	2017-18 Budget £m	2018-19 Draft Budget £m
Third Sector	24.5	24.5	24.5
Total Level 2	24.5	24.5	24.5
of which:
Fiscal Resource	24.5	24.5	24.5
Non-cash	-	-	-
Capital	-	-	-

What the Third Sector budget does

This budget supports the third sector in their work with individuals and communities, including the delivery of volunteering, the development of our approach to social enterprise, and support for the national and local third sector infrastructure (including the third sector interfaces). The third sector will also have access to resources through other programmes in the wider Draft Budget.

Table 10.09: Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator Spending Plans (Level 3)

Level 3	2016-17 Budget £m	2017-18 Budget £m	2018-19 Draft Budget £m
Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator	3.0	3.0	3.0
Total Level 2	3.0	3.0	3.0
of which:
Fiscal Resource	3.0	2.9	2.9
Non-cash	–	0.1	0.1
Capital	–	–	–

What the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator budget does

The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator ( OSCR) is responsible for the registration and regulation of more than 24,000 charities in Scotland. It has a statutory function to determine the charitable status of bodies, to keep the public register of charities, and to monitor and investigate apparent misconduct.

Table 10.10: Governance and Reform Spending Plans (Level 3)

Level 3	2016-17 Budget £m	2017-18 Budget £m	2018-19 Draft Budget £m
Local Governance	0.6	0.5	0.5
Public Services Reform and Community Empowerment	0.9	0.7	0.7
Local Governance Boundary Commission	0.2	–	–
Total Level 2	1.7	1.2	1.2
of which:
Fiscal Resource	1.6	1.2	1.2
Non-cash	-	-	-
Capital	0.1	–	–

What the Governance and Reform budget does

This budget supports public service reform including partnership working with local government around the empowerment of people and the importance of place.

This budget also includes provision for activities in relation to local government such as operation of the Council Tax Reduction scheme and a range of analytical and statistical work.

Table 10.11: Planning Spending Plans (Level 3)

Level 3	2016-17 Budget £m	2017-18 Budget £m	2018-19 Draft Budget £m
Planning	1.8	1.8	5.2
Building Standards	0.2	0.3	0.3
Architecture and Place	1.4	1.3	1.4
Planning and Environmental Appeals	0.7	0.7	0.7
Total Level 2	4.1	4.1	7.6
of which:
Fiscal Resource	4.0	4.0	7.1
Non-cash	-	-	-
Capital	0.1	0.1	0.5

What the Planning budget does

The budget supports the operation of the planning system, including running costs, and the wider programme of reform enabling housing and infrastructure delivery. It also delivers improvements to the quality and safety of the built environment, including research and advice on developments in technology, building design and architecture.

Table 10.12: Summary of Total 2018-19 Government Funding

	£m
Draft Budget Core Local Government Allocations (Table 10.13)	10,384.1
Revenue Funding (within other portfolios) (Table 10.19)	123.0
Total Core Local Government Settlement	10,507.1
Local Government funding outwith core settlement (Table 10.20)	361.0
Total Scottish Government Funding to Local Government	10,868.1

Table 10.13: Local Government Spending Plans (Level 3)

Level 3	2016-17 Budget £m	2017-18 Budget £m	2018-19 Draft Budget £m
General Revenue Grant 1	6,685.9	6,627.8	6,608.5
Non Domestic Rates 1	2,768.5	2,665.8	2,636.0
General Capital Grant 2	480.6	653.1	598.4
Specific Resource Grants 3	91.0	210.9	263.2
Specific Capital Grants 3	126.3	133.4	278.0
Total Level 2	10,152.3	10,291.0	10,384.1
of which:
Fiscal Resource	6,776.9	6,838.7	6,871.7
Capital	606.9	786.5	876.4
Non-cash	-	-	-
AME	2,768.5	2,665.8	2,636.0
Other Sources of Support
Council Tax Reform Income	-	111.0	111.0
Health and Social Care Integration	250.0	357.0	355.0

1. The Scottish Government guarantees the combined General Revenue Grant plus the distributable Non Domestic Rates ( NDR) Income figures.
2. £150 million of capital funding reprofiled from 2016-17 will be added back to the local government allocation in full in 2019-20.
3. Held within other portfolio chapters. Includes both resource and capital specific grants.

Table 10.14: Specific Grant Funding and other Local Government Funding 2018-19

Level 3	2017-18 Budget £m	2018-19 Draft Budget £m
Justice
Resource Specific
Criminal Justice Social Work	86.5	86.5
Communities, Social Security and Equalities
Resource Specific
Capital Specific
Vacant and Derelict Land	9.8	9.4
Transfer of Management of Development Funding ( TMDF)	96.1	92.2
Rural Economy and Connectivity
Capital Specific
Regional Transport Partnership	20.1	19.0
Cycling, Walking and Safer Routes	7.4	7.4
Education and Skills
Resource Specific
Pupil Equity Fund	120.0	120.0
Early Learning and Childcare Expansion		52.2
Gaelic	4.5	4.5
Capital Specific
Early Learning and Childcare Expansion		150.0
Total Specific Revenue Grants	211.0	263.2
Total Specific Capital Grants	133.4	278.0

What the Local Government budget does

For information purposes only, Scotland’s local authorities have budgeted to spend the total resources available to them from the Scottish Government’s funding and income raised locally through the Council Tax and locally set fees and charges on services as set out in Table 10.12.

Table 10.15: Local Government Revenue Expenditure Plans 2017-18

2017-18 Budget Estimate – Net Revenue Expenditure	2017-18 £m
Education	4,969.8
Social Work	3,173.7
Roads and Transport	405.5
Environmental Services	673.7
Planning and Development Services	237.4
Culture and Related Services	548.3
Other Services*	719.2
Non-Service Expenditure	1,174.5
Total Budgeted 2017-18 Net Revenue Expenditure	11,902.1

*A full breakdown of these budgeted amounts including individual local authority figures is available via the following link: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Local-Government-Finance/POBEStats/POBE2017Workbook

In addition, Scotland’s local authorities are planning a capital expenditure programme for 2017-18 as set out in Table 10.16. The capital resources available to them to fund this programme come from grants from the Scottish Government and its agencies; self-financed borrowing, capital receipts from the sale of assets and other sources.

Table 10.16: Local Government Capital Expenditure Plans 2017-18

2017-18 Budget Estimate – Gross Capital Expenditure	2017-18 £m
Non Housing Revenue Account Housing	89.6
Roads and Transport	554.4
Education	705.0
Social Work	76.9
Environmental Services	144.4
Culture and Related Services	194.8
Planning and Economic Development	374.2
Trading Services	15.1
Other Services	265.7
Total Estimated 2017-18 General Fund Capital Expenditure	2,420.1

A full breakdown of these budgeted amounts is available via the following link: Source: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Local-Government-Finance/Publications/CPOBE/CPOBE2017

These capital expenditure figures present the total budget allocated to projects in 2017-18. The final outturn figures are likely to be lower due to project slippage and expenditure being delayed into 2018-19.

Table 10.17: Scottish Fiscal Commission ( SFC) Non Domestic Rate Income Forecast

	2017-18 £m	2018-19 £m	2019-20 £m	2020-21 £m	2021-22 £m
Contributable Amount	2,810	2,812	2,867	2,939	3,117
Distributable Amount	2,666	2,636	2,867	2,939	3,117
Prior Year Adjustments	(23)	(34)
Yearly Balance	155	142
Cumulative Balance	(142)	-

The Non Domestic Rate Income Forecast for 2017-18 was prepared by the Scottish Government. The Scottish Fiscal Commission has provided the 2018-22 estimates.

Table 10.18: Calculation of the 2018-19 Non Domestic Rate Distributable Amount ( DA)

	£m
2016-17 Non Domestic Rate Account Closing Balance	(296.6)
2016-17 Prior Year adjustments	(22.7)
2017-18 Prior Year adjustments	143.2
Forecast NDRI	2,812.0
Estimated movement on the Account 2018-19	2,636.0
2018-19 Distributable Amount	2,636.0
Estimated Balance at 31 March 2019	-

Table 10.19: Total Local Government Finance Settlement

	£m
Total Draft Budget Local Government Settlement	10,384.1
Additional Revenue
Discretionary Housing Payments	52.1
Scottish Welfare Fund	37.9
Temporary Accomodation	23.5
Self-Directed Support	3.5
Customer First	1.9
Community Justice Transitional Funding	1.6
Tobacco Related Issues	1.3
Former Housing Support Grant	1.0
Blue Badge Scheme	0.7
Sensory Impairment	0.3
Building Standards Fees	-1.1
British Sign Language	0.3
Total Additional Revenue	123.0
Total Local Government Finance Circular	10,507.1

Table 10.20: Funding Outwith the Local Government Finance Settlement

	£m
Total Local Government Finance Circular	10,507.1
Revenue
Attainment Scotland Fund	59.0
Education Maintenance Allowance	25.0
Schools for the Future Programme	52.9
Clyde Gateway Urban Regeneration Company	0.5
Supporting Post 16 Transitions Towards Employment	4.3
Travel Strategy and Innovation	4.1
Private Water Supply Grants	1.7
Support for Bus Services	1.1
Community Empowerment Participatory Budgeting	0.8
Crown Office	0.4
Citizen’s Income Pilots	0.1
Total Revenue	149.9
Capital
City Deals	121.9
Clyde Gateway Urban Regeneration Company	5.0
Support for Sustainable and Active Travel	7.0
Future Transport Fund	6.0
Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland ( HEEPS)	47.0
Regeneration Capital Grant Fund	20.0
European Maritime and Fisheries Fund	4.2
Total Capital	211.2
Total Funding Outwith Local Government Finance Settlement	361.0
Overall Scottish Government Funding for Local Government	10,868.1