Finance and Public Administration Committee
Framework for the Resource Spending Review
Background
The Scottish Government has published a ‘consultative framework document’ on its forthcoming Scottish Resource Spending Review.
Resource Spending is the spending on day-to-day running costs of government programmes and administration. The purpose of a Resource Spending Review is to set out spending plans for the remainder of the parliamentary term which support the Scottish Government's ambitions (these plans will cover from 2023-24 to 2026-27).
The document was published alongside the Scottish Budget and the Medium-Term Financial Strategy on 9 December 2021.
The Government says the Resource Spending Review will build on the Capital Spending Review that was published earlier this year. According to its consultation document, these two spending reviews will together give a comprehensive picture of Scotland’s multi-year public spending plans.
The Government also says it will need to decide what to prioritise and how to deliver its services. To do this effectively, it plans to focus on its core priorities:
- to support progress towards meeting our child poverty targets
- to address climate change, and, underpinning these
- to secure a stronger, fairer, greener economy
Timescale for the Spending Review consultation
This is the Scottish Government’s first resource spending review since 2011. The Scottish Government had previously agreed to set out a framework when proceeding with a spending review.
The consultation on the framework will run until 27 March 2022.The Scottish Government will then publish its review in May 2022.
The Committee has agreed it will carry out a short, focussed inquiry, to inform its response to the Scottish Government consultation.
Correspondence
Letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy to the Convener of 28 April 2022 (75KB, pdf) posted 20 May 2022
Timetable
December/January 2022
Call for evidence
February 2022
The Committee will hear oral evidence
March 2022
The Committee will publish its response to the Scottish Government’s framework consultation
Your views
The Committee is keen to hear a wide range of views to help inform its inquiry. The key questions that it would like to hear views on are
- How clearly does the framework set out the Scottish Government’s priorities for the resource spending review?
- What should be the overarching priorities in the resource spending review and how adequately are these currently covered in the framework?
- Does the framework properly reflect the current economic and political context?
- How does the framework approach cross-cutting issues, long-term challenges such as demographic trends, and preventative approaches?
- How well do the priorities in the framework link in with National Performance Framework outcomes?
Written Submissions
The Committee received 15 submissions to its call for views. 8 submissions were received and can be read on Citizen Space. 7 submissions were received via email and are reproduced below:
Written submission from the Scottish Retail Consortium
Written submission from Bord na Gaidhlig
Written submission from Colleges Scotland
Written submission from David Heald
Written submission from Children in Scotland
Written submission from COSLA
Written submission from the Public Audit Committee
SPICe Summary of Evidence
The Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) has produced a summary of the written submissions received to the Committee's call for views. You can read the summary below:
Oral Evidence
The Committee took evidence on the following dates:
Tuesday 8 March 2022
The Committee took evidence from:
Emma Congreve, Knowledge Exchange Fellow, Fraser of Allander Institute
Professor David Heald, Professor of Public Sector Accounting, Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow
Committee papers
Papers for meeting on 8 March 2022
Official Report (substantially verbatim transcript)
Official Report of meeting on 8 March 2022
Tuesday 1 March 2022
The Committee took evidence from:
Mirren Kelly, Chief Officer, Local Government Finance, COSLA
Eileen Rowand, Executive Director, Finance and Corporate Services, Fife Council, CIPFA Directors of Finance
and then from:
Paul Bradley, Policy and Public Affairs Manager, Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations
David Melhuish, Director, Scottish Property Federation
Alastair Sim, Director, Universities Scotland
Committee papers
Papers for meeting on 1 March 2022
Official Report (substantially verbatim transcript)
Official Report of meeting on 1 March 2022
Committee Response
The Committee's response to the Scottish Government's framework consultation was published on 25 March 2022. The response can be viewed at the following link:
The Scottish Government responded to the Committee's report on 1 June 2022:
Letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy to the Convener of 1 June 2022 (794KB, pdf) posted 06 June 2022