Question reference: S6W-04353
- Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 15 November 2021
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Current status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 24 November 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether there has been an underspend of the social security budget in this financial year and, if so, how much the underspend is, and how it compares to initial forecasts.
Answer
The overall social security budget for the 2021-22 financial year was set in January 2021, at almost £4 billion. This includes £3.5 billion for demand-led benefits expenditure, and almost £0.5 billion for Social Security Programme implementation investment and Social Security Scotland operating costs.
The Scottish Government has put in place robust processes to manage the risks associated with demand-led expenditure on this scale and the potential impact any variations could have on the wider Scottish Budget. After the financial year has ended, our Budget position will be presented to Parliament in the Provisional Outturn statement and confirmed in the 2021-22 consolidated accounts in the normal way.