Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)

Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

Question reference: S6W-37069

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 6 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it provides to Scottish Borders council to reflect any additional costs directly associated with providing nursery education in a rural setting.

The Local Government finance funding formula provides a complex but objective assessment of need and uses the most up to date information for the full range of indicators, including factors such as rurality, population, road length and deprivation. Rurality is accounted for within the Local Government finance settlement, both in relation to Early Learning and Childcare and school funding. In Early Learning and Childcare this relates to support being distributed in relation to the number of pupils living in rural areas.

The vast majority of funding allocated to councils is provided by means of a block grant. It is then the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, including on Education, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

The annual Funding of Local Government publication provides an overview of the process of funding council in Scotland, while the Local Government Allocation Statistics (Green Book) publication sets out in more detail the date, methodology and calculations underlying the distribution of the funding between councils. https://www.gov.scot/collections/local-government-finance-statistics/#thefundingoflocalgovernmentinscotland.

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Question reference: S6W-37069

Answer