Question reference: S5W-36208
- Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 11 March 2021
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Current status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 19 March 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding how much has been spent on average per person on environmental protection in Scotland since 2016-17, and what information it has on how this compares with (a) England and (b) Wales.
Answer
The Scottish Government publishes data on spending for environmental protection in the annual Government Expenditure and Revenue in Scotland (GERS) report. Average annual spend for the last four years on Environmental Protection was £1,258 million per year, which is on average £231 per person in Scotland.
Using a slightly different methodology, the HMT Country and Regional Analysis 2020 Report provides a comparison between Scotland, England and Wales. A summary of the data for agriculture, fisheries and forestry has been provided in the following table with additional information on spending per capita provided by Scottish Government.
A summary of the data on environmental protection has been provided below with additional information on spending per capita provided by Scottish Government.
Table 1: Total spend on Environmental Protection in Scotland, England and Wales and spend per person
Year | Scotland | England | Wales | |||
Total £ million | £ per person | Total £ million | £ per person | Total £ million | £ per person | |
2016-2017 | 1,231 | 228 | 8,598 | 156 | 609 | 195 |
2017-2018 | 1,241 | 229 | 9,318 | 168 | 617 | 197 |
2018-2019 | 1,281 | 236 | 8,606 | 154 | 616 | 196 |
2019-2020 | 1,364 | 250 | 9,103 | 162 | 675 | 214 |
Total (£) | *5,118 | *942 | *35,626 | *639 | *2,516 | *803 |
2016-2020 Average | 1,280 | 235 | 8,907 | 160 | 629 | 201 |
*Total different due to rounding