Question reference: S6W-24640
- Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
- Date lodged: 23 January 2024
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Current status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 1 February 2024
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what it anticipates the impact will be of the reported withdrawal of £75,000 of funding for the Mark Scott Leadership for Life Award, in light of the programme reportedly leveraging around a further £200,000 annually from other funding sources, supporting over 150 young people from around 60 schools across central Scotland, particularly in the Edinburgh Eastern constituency, and leading to community projects that support over 2,500 people annually.
Answer
Our block grant funding for this Budget is derived from the UK Government's spending decisions and has fallen by 1.2% in real terms since 2022-23 – a real terms drop of £0.5 billion. The reality is that the amount Scotland has available to spend is still largely driven by the block grant set by successive UK Governments whose constraint of public expenditure prolongs the austerity felt by public services. We fully recognise that all difficult funding decisions have an impact and while there is significant pressure across all Scottish Government budgets in 2024-25, we have reviewed funding options and have identified budget resource for the Mark Scott Awards for 2024-25.