Current status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 1 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how it is ensuring that value for money is achieved by the flood protection schemes that it is funding in full or partly.
It is a local authority responsibility to develop and deliver flood protection schemes. As such, it is for the local authority to ensure that its individual project is value for money and has a robust business case.
Individual local authorities are responsible for managing their finances in a prudent and sustainable way, ensuring the delivery of best value to the public for the services they provide. The Scottish Government provides grant funding to support local authorities in this responsibility through the general capital grant.
At a programme level, a joint COSLA/ Scottish Government Flood Risk Management Funding Working Group has been set up to discuss funding and governance of flood resilience actions in Scotland. The group includes representatives from COSLA, SEPA, local authority Directors of Finance and flood officers, and the Scottish Government. This group have been tasked with making recommendations to improve affordability, learn lessons for future programmes, and discuss future funding arrangements. This includes consideration of VfM.