Financial Scrutiny

A main part of an MSP’s role is to inspect and analyse Scottish Government spending. They do this as part of their job:

• in committee
• in the Chamber
• representing their constituency or region

The Financial Scrutiny Unit (FSU) works within SPICe. It gives independent analysis and support to Parliament committees and to MSPs. It advises on budgets and issues that affect the Scottish Government and Parliament. This includes:

• costs of specific spending proposals
• providing research on all areas of the economy and public finances 

The FSU: 

• helps MSPs scrutinise the budget effectively 
• produces financial costs and analysis
• provides economic information and analysis

The FSU produces briefings and blogs on a range of areas such as:

• the economy
• finance
• local government

You can find briefings on our Digital Hub and our blogs on SPICe Spotlight. 

The FSU also produce other resources and tools to help Members and committees with financial scrutiny. 

Latest Scottish budget and associated data

The Scottish Government published its budget proposals for the next financial year, 2021-22, on 28 January 2021,

Scottish Government budget documents

• Scottish Government budget (visit Scottish Government website)
• Detailed “level 4” budget data from the Scottish Government

SPICe research work on the budget

• Detailed briefing on Scottish Budget 2021-22
• Data charts for detailed briefing on Scottish Budget 2021-22 - SPICe analysis spreadsheets
• Detailed briefing on the 2021-22 local government settlement
• Budget levels 1-3 data - SPICe analysis spreadsheets
• Budget 2021-22: a budget for unprecedented times
• A busy budgetary period ahead
• Unreal terms
• Covid- 19: how has the pandemic affected the national outcomes
• Scottish Budget 2021-22 Infographic
• Scottish Budget 2021-22: Taxes Infographic

Barnett consequentials and other funding changes 

UK Government budget announcements affect the Scottish budget. The UK Government may make changes on spending in areas that are devolved in Scotland. This can mean more funding is allocated to Scotland via consequentials. The Barnett formula calculates these resulting consequentials. These are based on Scotland’s population share of changes to UK Government spending in areas that are devolved in Scotland. 

See the Barnett consequentials and other funding changes resulting from UK Budgets since 2015. 

Additional funding since the 2015 Spending Review (133KB xls)