Scottish Consolidated Fund Accounts: 2018-2019

Notes to the Accounts

1. Basis of accounting

In accordance with Section 19 (2) of the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000, these accounts are prepared on a cash basis.

2. Receipts from the Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland

These receipts are paid into the Scottish Consolidated Fund under Section 64(2) of the Scotland Act 1998.

3. Scottish Rate of Income Tax

The Scotland Act 2012 Section 25 empowers the Scottish Parliament to set a Scottish Rate of Income Tax (SRIT) for Scottish taxpayers with effect from 6 April 2016. Income tax revenues derived from Scottish taxpayers were assigned to the Scottish Administration commencing in 2016-17. During the year 2018-19, £12,115 million of assigned income tax was paid into the Scottish Consolidated Fund (2017-18 £11,858 million).

4. Receipts from Devolved Taxes

During the year 2018-19, Revenue Scotland paid over £715 million to the Scottish Consolidated Fund in respect of the two Devolved Taxes.

	2018-19	2017-18
	£000	£000
Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT)	560,981	553,271
Scottish Landfill Tax (SLFT)	153,718	144,066
Total Devolved Taxes	714,699	697,337

5. Borrowing by Scottish Ministers

Under section 32 of the Scotland Act 2012, as amended by Scotland Act 2016 section 20, additional borrowing powers were conferred on Scottish Ministers with effect from 1 April 2015. Any sums borrowed and repaid under these provisions must be done via the Scottish Consolidated Fund and hence be reflected in these accounts. The first sums borrowed from the NLF were received by the SCF in 2017-18. A summary of the borrowing position is set out as follows:

	Principal	Accrued Interest	Total
At 31 March 2019	£'000	£'000	£'000
At 1 April 2018	450,000	547	450,547
New borrowing	250,000	-	250,000
Interest incurred	-	8,614	8,614
Repayments	(7,073)	-	(7,073)
Interest paid	-	(7,723)	(7,723)
At 31 March 2019	692,927	1,438	694,365

Repayments of principal and interest in 2018-19 totalled £14.796 million (2017-18 nil).

	Principal	Accrued Interest	Total
At 31 March 2018	£'000	£'000	£'000
At 1 April 2017	-	-	-
New borrowing	450,000	-	450,000
Interest incurred	-	547	547
Repayments	-	-	-
Interest paid	-	-	-
At 31 March 2018	450,000	547	450,547

The repayment of borrowing is scheduled as follows:

	Principal	Interest	Total
At 31 March 2019	£'000	£'000	£'000
Less than 1 year	26,294	10,407	36,701
1 - 5 years	157,812	38,034	195,846
More than 5 years	508,821	78,211	587,032
Total	692,927	126,652	819,579

	Principal	Interest	Total
At 31 March 2018	£'000	£'000	£'000
Less than 1 year	7,073	7,723	14,796
1 - 5 years	59,057	31,727	90,784
More than 5 years	383,870	81,397	465,267
Total	450,000	120,847	570,847

6. Crown Estate surplus

Under the provisions of Section 36 of the Scotland Act 2016, the Crown Estate Transfer Scheme 2017 transferred the existing Scottish functions of the Crown Estate Commissioners to Scottish Ministers. A new body, Crown Estate Scotland, was established to manage those functions. All revenue surpluses generated by Crown Estate Scotland are paid into the Scottish Consolidated Fund with effect from 2017-18. The surplus paid into the Fund in 2018-19 amounted to £11.8 million (2017-18 £4.5 million).

7. Fines, forfeitures and fixed penalties

The Scotland Act 1998 (Designation of Receipts) Order 2017, issued under the provisions of Section 67 of the Scotland Act 2016, removes fines forfeitures and fixed penalties receipts from their previous classification as designated receipts under the Scotland Act 1998 (Designation of Receipts) Order 2009.

In 2018-19, the total of fines, forfeitures and fixed penalties paid into the SCF was £20.5 million (2017-18 £17.1 million). Further details are set out in note 9.

8. Receipts for the Queen's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer

The Queen's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer (QLTR) is the Crown's representative in Scotland, and is responsible for dealing with ownerless property ("bona vacantia"). Regulation of the activities of the QLTR was transferred to Scottish Ministers by Schedule 8 Paragraph 1 of the Scotland Act 1998. Bona vacantia covers assets of dissolved companies, assets of missing persons and lost and abandoned property. The realised value of such assets is paid by the QLTR into the SCF. The balance of Queen's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer receipts paid into the Fund is as follows:

	2018-19	2017-18
	£000	£000
Balance in the SCF at 1 April	55,033	48,283
Receipts in the period	3,978	6,750
Balance in the SCF at 31 March	59,011	55,033

9. Analysis of other receipts not authorised to be used to support expenditure

As provided for in Section 64(3) of the Scotland Act 1998 (and certain other legislative provisions) all sums received by members of the Scottish Administration (and certain other bodies) are to be paid into the Scottish Consolidated Fund as Consolidated Fund Extra Receipts (CFERs) unless there are alternative statutory provisions. In practice, most of the receipts of the bodies concerned were authorised to be used to support expenditure under the Budget Act and the Budget Orders.

The Scotland Act 1998 (Designation of Receipts) Order 2009 designates certain receipts (designated receipts) and provides that sums equivalent to these are to be paid to the Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland, in practice for paying into the UK Consolidated Fund. As detailed in note 7, the 2009 Order was amended with effect from 2017-18 to remove a category of receipts (fines, forfeitures and fixed penalties) from classification as designated receipts.

The majority of the receipts paid into the Fund in 2018-19 relate to Justice and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, most of which are amounts recovered under the Proceeds of Crime Act (see Note 12).

2018-19	Receipts paid into Fund during period	Receipts classed as Designated
	£000	£000
Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity	191	3
Rural Economy	675	275
Justice	5,357	-
Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service	3,028	-
Total	9,251	278

2017-18	Receipts paid into Fund during period	Receipts classed as Designated
	£000	£000
Finance and The Constitution	3,070	7
Rural Economy and Connectivity	6	6
Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service	4235	-
Total for 2017-18	7,311	13
Less: Repaid 2016-17 income	(1,633)	-
Total	5,678	13

During 2017-18, CFER payments were paid to Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland of £13,000. £1.633 million was surrendered to the Fund in error during 2016-17 and was repaid by the Fund in 2017-18.

10. Payments authorised under the Budget Acts

For the period of this account the Scottish Parliament approved: Budget (Scotland) Act 2018 (ASP 6) as amended by the Budget (Scotland) Act Amendment Regulations 2018 (SSI 2017/363) and the Budget (Scotland) Act Amendment Regulations 2019 (SSI 2018/117).

These Orders appropriate sums out of the Scottish Consolidated Fund for the financial year ending 31 March 2019 for the purposes of meeting expenditure in that year in connection with the functions for which expenditure is, by virtue of the Scotland Act 1998 and provisions made under it, payable out of that fund during the year.

2018-19	£000	£000
Scottish Government and Associated Departments	35,260,390
Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Services	114,150
Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service	129,966
Food Standards Scotland	14,500
Scottish Administration		35,519,006
Forestry Commission (Scotland)	67,700
The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body	89,400
Audit Scotland	6,700	163,800
Total Paid		35,682,806

During 2017-18 the authorised payments under the Budget Acts was £34,138 million. This is summarised below:

2017-18	£000	£000
Scottish Government and Associated Departments	33,860,715
Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Services	106,000
Food Standards Agency	14,800
Scottish Administration		33,981,515
Forestry Commission (Scotland)	66,800
The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body	84,300
Audit Scotland	5,500	156,600
Total Paid		34,138,115

11. Judicial Salaries

Receipts and Payments Account

For the period 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019

Receipts	2018-19	2017-18
	£000	£000
Received from the SCF	33,094	32,290
Income from recovery of overpayments	0	0
Reimbursement of salary costs	235	235
Total Receipts	33,329	32,525
Payments	2018-19	2017-18
	£000	£000
Salary Costs	33,110	32,794
Bank Charges	2	1
Total Payments	33,112	32,795
Surplus/(Deficit) for the Period	217	(270)

Summary of the balance held at the Government Banking Service:

Balance brought forward from previous year	243	513
Surplus/(deficit) of receipts over payments for the year	217	(270)
Total Payments	460	243

A member of the judiciary took up a post as chair of an inquiry in 2016-17, and has continued in post during 2018-19; her salary costs continued to be charged to the Fund. The inquiry reimbursed the Fund for the member's salary costs commensurate with the time spent on inquiry business, totalling £235,000 (2017-18 £235,000).

The salaries of the judiciary are a matter for the UK Government. Information on salaries payable is set out in a report by the Senior Salaries Review Body. The 2017 report is available online^[5].

During 2018-19 the number of paid judiciary in post at 31 March 2019 was:

Judges (Senators of the College of Justice)	34
Sheriffs Principal	6
Sheriffs	122.8 FTE
Summary Sheriffs	35.4 FTE
Members of Lands Tribunal Scotland	1.8 FTE
Chair of the Scottish Land Court	1
Deputy Chair of the Scottish Land Court	0.8 FTE
Members of the Scottish Land Court	1.4 FTE

Comparative figures for 2017-18, the number of paid judiciary in post at 31 March 2018, are:

Judges (Senators of the College of Justice)	35
Sheriffs Principal	6
Sheriffs	125.1 FTE
Summary Sheriffs	29.4 FTE
Members of Lands Tribunal Scotland	1.8 FTE
Chair of the Scottish Land Court	1
Deputy Chair of the Scottish Land Court	0.6 FTE
Members of the Scottish Land Court	1.4 FTE

12. Proceeds of Crime receipts 2018-19

During 2018-19 a total of £5.439 million (2017-18 £7.259 million) was repaid to the Scottish Government in respect of Proceeds of Crime initially surrendered to the Scottish Consolidated Fund.

The net balance of Proceeds of Crime receipts paid into the Fund is as follows:

	2018-19	2017-18
	£000	£000
Balance in the SCF at 1 April	6,321	6,283
Receipts to the SCF in the period	6,997	7,297
Payments to the Scottish Government in the period	(5,439)	(7,259)
Balance in the SCF at 31 March	7,879	6,321

13. Analysis of the balance held at the Scottish Consolidated Fund

	2018-19	2017-18
	£000	£000
Sums due to funded bodies not yet paid	17,551	6,571
General SCF Reserve	247,902	243,320
Balance held at the SCF at 31 March	265,453	249,891

The balance on the General Reserve of the Scottish Consolidated Fund does not necessarily represent an amount available for appropriation by a Budget Act or other means as there may be sums due to the Scottish Government or other funded bodies and/or sums due to the Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland for onward transmission to the UK Consolidated Fund.

In particular, non-domestic rates paid to and by Scottish Ministers are credited to, or drawn from the Scottish Consolidated Fund and are accounted for in more detail in a separate non-domestic rating account.