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Chamber and committees

Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 18 February 2025
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Displaying 1589 contributions

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Meeting of the Parliament

Budget (Scotland) (No 4) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 4 February 2025

Shona Robison

Does Murdo Fraser think that the Tory proposals to cut our trade offices across the world would help or hinder economic growth in Scotland?

Meeting of the Parliament

Budget (Scotland) (No 4) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 4 February 2025

Shona Robison

The budget for this year—2025-26—includes a real-terms increase for local government. How does Alexander Stewart reconcile that with the £1 billion of tax cuts that his party wants to deliver? What impact would that have on the local government settlement?

Meeting of the Parliament

Budget (Scotland) (No 4) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 4 February 2025

Shona Robison

I can certainly give that commitment to Willie Rennie. In the meantime, I want to give some certainty around planning assumptions. Of course, the more money that we get from the UK Treasury for employer national insurance contributions, the more that I will distribute on a fair basis.

Looking ahead, our tax policy decisions in this budget continue to deliver our progressive approach in Scotland while raising substantial revenues to support the delivery of our public services. We are asking those with the broadest shoulders to contribute more.

In line with our tax strategy, for the remainder of this session of Parliament, we will provide certainty for our largest source of tax revenue and will not introduce any new bands or increase the rates of Scottish income tax. We will also maintain our commitment that, in 2025-26 and until the end of this session of Parliament, more than half of taxpayers will pay less income tax in Scotland than they would pay in the rest of UK.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission estimates that our choices on income tax since devolution will raise up to an additional £1.7 billion in 2025-26 compared with what the position would have been had we matched our policy to that in the rest of the UK. Thanks to the tax and social security decisions that we have taken, 60 per cent of Scots will be better off because they live in Scotland. That is exactly what this budget is about—delivering for and improving the lives of the people of Scotland.

I want to remind Parliament of what the 2025-26 Scottish budget is delivering for Scotland.

We believe that tackling poverty is an investment in the future of this country, and that is why eradicating child poverty is this Government’s number 1 priority. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s “UK Poverty 2025” report is clear that only in Scotland is the rate of child poverty set to fall by 2029. That is a great achievement that bucks the trend across the UK and it is thanks in part to measures such as our Scottish child payment. However, we are in no doubt that there is still much more to do. That is why, through this budget, we are developing the systems necessary to effectively scrap the impact of the two-child cap in 2026.

We are also supporting households more widely through investing £768 million for the affordable housing supply programme, boosting affordable housing supply across Scotland and enabling housing providers to deliver at least 8,000 homes for social rent, mid-market rent and low-cost home ownership. To help with home energy costs, the budget will reinstate the universal winter heating payment to every pensioner household.

On wider support for children, this budget will continue to invest around £1 billion through the local government settlement in continuing to deliver high-quality funded early learning and childcare for three and four-year-olds and eligible two-year-olds, supporting families to provide their children with an essential early learning experience at that critical stage in life.

To support our schoolchildren, the budget will provide up to £3 million to deliver a bright start breakfasts pilot to test the delivery of free breakfast clubs and kick-start more breakfast delivery across Scotland.

We will also provide £37 million to support local government to deliver on our commitment to expand free school meals provision for children in primary 6 and primary 7 who are in receipt of the Scottish child payment, which is expected to support around 25,000 pupils. We will also provide an estimated £3 million to support a new test of change phase that will extend free school meal eligibility in eight local authority areas for pupils in secondary 1 to secondary 3 who are in receipt of the Scottish child payment.

We want to see a Scotland where everyone is able to flourish and to support Scotland in reaching its full potential. That is why we are taking these important steps through this budget.

Boosting fair and green economic growth is also essential. It improves living standards and outcomes for the people of Scotland and it helps to increase tax revenues to support high-quality public services. This budget prioritises major capital investment in the foundations of our economy, including in housing, transport, digital connectivity and delivering critical infrastructure for a green and growing economy.

We are investing more than £7 billion in our total infrastructure package. That includes almost tripling our investment in offshore wind to £150 million, advancing our commitment of up to £500 million over five years; expanding regeneration funding to £62 million to invest in communities across Scotland; and investing £100 million for the continued roll-out of our digital connectivity programmes across Scotland.

This budget will also ensure that enterprise and innovation are at the heart of our economic strategy, and, through investing in an expanded enterprise package, we will grow the start-up economy and contribute towards our ambition of establishing Scotland as a top-performing start-up economy.

Specifically, we are investing £321 million in Scotland’s enterprise agencies to deliver our programme of support to help Scottish businesses to start, be more productive and attract investment. The Government is supporting further investment in the Scottish National Investment Bank, with a net £200 million being offered to create jobs, support innovation and attract investment. This Government is also supporting the development of its future workforce by continuing to invest more than £2 billion in Scotland’s colleges, universities and skills development programmes.

On non-domestic rates, the budget will support businesses and communities by freezing the basic property rate—the lowest such rate in the UK—and maintaining the small business bonus scheme, which is the most generous of its kind in the UK. The budget also provides 40 per cent rates relief in 2025-26 for the 92 per cent of hospitality premises that are liable for the basic property rate. For our islands and remote areas, hospitality relief will continue at 100 per cent. Both are capped at £110,000 per business.

Meeting of the Parliament

Budget (Scotland) (No 4) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 4 February 2025

Shona Robison

Will Alexander Stewart give way on that point?

Meeting of the Parliament

Budget (Scotland) (No 4) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 4 February 2025

Shona Robison

As a Government, we are proud that the 2025-26 Scottish budget delivers around £64 billion of funding to deliver on our programme for government, and that it supports our top priorities, which are to eradicate child poverty, grow the economy, tackle the climate emergency and provide high-quality and sustainable public services.

Just yesterday, I saw a key example of how society will benefit from the budget when I visited the excellent national treatment centre in Kirkcaldy. I was able to see how it is providing thousands of additional appointments and diagnostic tests, and I thank those working at the centre who took time out to talk to me.

As a Parliament, it is important that we recognise that the budget is set against continued and unprecedented challenges to public finances. The block grant position for 2025-26 represents only a 1 per cent increase in real terms for resource following the very welcome reset of budgets in 2024-25, which started to address the austerity of the past 14 years. Although the United Kingdom autumn budget was a step in the right direction, this Government is clear that the extent of the challenges that we face in our public services will not be addressed in a single year.

That further underlines the need for clarity from the UK Government on its longer-term investment plans and commitments. I will be pressing for that clarity in my engagement with His Majesty’s Treasury and in the work towards the UK spending review over the coming months

The great unknown, of course, is the net impact of the UK Government’s hikes in employer national insurance costs, which we estimate could add more than £530 million in directly employed public sector staff costs. If we include the costs of staff delivering wider public services, such as general practitioners, dentists and social care staff, the figure would increase to more than £700 million.

It is essential that the UK Treasury fully funds the actual costs for Scotland’s public sector, but it has indicated that we will instead receive a much lower-value Barnett share of spending in England. That is unacceptable, and Scottish ministers are pressing the UK Government to fund those additional public sector costs in full. Scotland and its public services should not be punished because we have chosen to invest more in public services and in the pay of those delivering our public services. We need an urgent decision on that to give public sector employers—including the national health service, the police and local authorities—clarity to inform their spending decisions.

I want to provide as much clarity today as I can, particularly for local government. I recognise that councils are in the process of finalising their budgets. Although we do not yet have figures from the Treasury, I want to support local government in managing its planning assumptions. I can therefore confirm that, as things stand, I am aiming to provide funding that covers 60 per cent of the reported costs for all portfolios. That means that I will commit to providing local government with an additional £144 million to support the cost of the hikes that have been inflicted on the public sector by the UK Government.

By providing councils with the equivalent of a 5 per cent national increase in council tax, the certainty that I offer today should reduce the pressure on council tax decisions locally and help councils avoid inflation-busting increases. I will follow up with further detail on the issue once I receive further clarity from the Treasury, which I continue to press for.

Meeting of the Parliament

Budget (Scotland) (No 4) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 4 February 2025

Shona Robison

The measure will impact 92 per cent of hospitality premises, which is the vast majority. The local pub and the local restaurant are the priorities that the SNP Government is focusing on.

More widely, as part of the Government’s commitment to net zero and tackling the climate emergency, the budget will commit £4.9 billion of investment with a positive benefit for the climate. That will support our commitment to scaling up renewable energy, restoring Scotland’s natural environment, expanding our public transport and active travel networks, and supporting a step change in how we heat our homes by investing more than £300 million in energy efficiency and clean heat measures.

Our public services are an integral part of our daily lives, and we remain committed to protecting those valued services through the budget, building on many years of investment by the Scottish Government. I am proud that the 2025-26 budget takes significant steps in continuing the Government’s investment in our front-line staff and public services, including record investment of £21.7 billion for health and social care and more than £15 billion for local government.

At the start of this year, the First Minister said

“There is nothing wrong in Scotland that can’t be fixed by what is right in Scotland.”

The budget is all about putting the resources in place to do just that.

I end with a reminder to the Parliament of the important measures that the Government is putting in place for the people of Scotland: record NHS investment, including money to reduce waiting lists and make it easier for people to see their GP; tax choices that put money in the pockets of low-income and middle-income earners and that help hard-pressed local pubs and restaurants; winter heating payments for older Scots; more affordable homes; investment in childcare and nursery education through more jobs and business growth; more breakfast clubs in our schools; £4.9 billion for positive climate action; a record increase in funding for local services; transformational increases in culture spending; and action to mitigate the two-child cap, which will lift 15,000 children out of poverty.

I am proud of the budget and all that it delivers for the people of Scotland, and I urge the Parliament to support it.

I move,

That the Parliament agrees to the general principles of the Budget (Scotland) (No. 4) Bill.

14:37  

Meeting of the Parliament

Budget (Scotland) (No 4) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 4 February 2025

Shona Robison

I am pleased to lead today’s stage 1 debate on the 2025-26 Scottish budget bill. Since I introduced the budget to Parliament in December, the Government has engaged widely across the Parliament to build consensus on a spending programme that will deliver for all of Scotland. Parliament can see that the offer to Scotland has been enhanced by the separate agreements that were reached with the Scottish Liberal Democrats and the Scottish Greens, and by the further action on and investment in free school meals, nature restoration and neonates who are affected by drugs, along with the introduction of a bus fare cap pilot and targeted support for hospices and colleges.

That collaborative approach between parties demonstrates how the Scottish Parliament was designed to work: effectively engaging and negotiating to agree solutions for the benefit of Scotland. We will now move ahead with delivery, providing improvements to services in Scotland, which is what the people of Scotland want.

As a Government, we are proud that the 2025-26 Scottish budget delivers around £64 billion of funding—[Inaudible.]

Meeting of the Parliament

Budget (Scotland) (No 4) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 4 February 2025

Shona Robison

Will the member give way?

Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]

Scottish Budget 2025-26

Meeting date: 30 January 2025

Shona Robison

As committees will be aware, the Government has called on the UK Treasury to fully fund those additional costs. On 24 January, the Treasury advised that Scotland will receive only a Barnett share of the available funding, which is deeply concerning because it will create a shortfall of £300 million.

Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]

Scottish Budget 2025-26

Meeting date: 30 January 2025

Shona Robison

I begin by recognising the importance of the role of Parliament’s committees in scrutinising the Scottish budget. I thank the Finance and Public Administration Committee for its budget report, which was published yesterday. I will respond to it in detail formally ahead of stage 2.

In my statement to Parliament on 4 December 2024, I spoke of how we can deliver progress for the people of Scotland only if there is a willingness to work together across the chamber. That is how Parliament is designed to work: as a Parliament of minorities improving the budget, as the people of Scotland would expect. The agreements that were reached with the Scottish Liberal Democrats and the Scottish Green Party demonstrate what can be achieved in that collaborative space, and I welcome that constructive engagement.

The Government recognises the importance of longer-term financial planning and fiscal sustainability. In looking ahead to the new financial year, and given the clear view of the Finance and Public Administration Committee, I have instructed officials to begin planning for a Scottish spending review that will identify opportunities to optimise the use of Scottish Government funding over the longer term. I will engage with the committee and the Scottish Fiscal Commission on those plans.

On the infrastructure investment plan pipeline refresh, multiyear certainty on capital budgets is essential to determine what projects and programmes can be delivered over the medium term. For that reason, the UK spending review is essential to support that process.