Parliament research and fact sheets

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. SPICe has a range of explainer animations on the SPICe blog site.

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

Scottish Government budget documents

• Scottish Budget 2025-26

SPICe budget research

• Budget briefing: Scottish Budget 2025-26
• Local government finance: Budget 2025-26 and provisional allocations to local authorities
• Public Finance Glossary
• The Scottish Government Affordable Housing Supply Programme
• Scottish Budget 2025-26: initial reaction
• What to look out for in the 2025-26 Scottish Budget
• Scottish income tax – an emerging picture
• Budget Bingo: the committees strike back – key themes in pre-budget scrutiny for 2025-26
• Capital investment in Scotland and the transition to net zero
• What’s in the UK Budget? Ask Reeves.
• Filling in fiscal cracks…again
• The Scottish Government’s capital budget
• The National Performance Framework and budget scrutiny

SPICe budget visuals

• Animation: budget process
• Animation: GDP
• Animation: Inflation
• Animation: Barnett formula
• Animation: Behavioural responses to income tax changes
• Scottish Budget 25-26: Taxes Infographic

SPICe budget tools

• Budget over time spreadsheet: SPICe 2025-26 budget Levels 1 to 3 Web version.xlsx
• Inflation-adjustment tool: GDP calculator

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. 

• Barnett tool

We would welcome any feedback from users. Please contact SPICe with your views.