Question reference: S6W-06930
- Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 25 February 2022
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Current status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 11 March 2022
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much COVID-19-related funding from the UK Government it (a) received in 2020-21 and (b) has received in 2021-22, broken down by how much (i) has been allocated to (A) COVID-19-specific spending, (B) non-COVID-19-specific spending and (ii) remains unallocated.
Answer
The Scottish Government has received £14.564 billion in Covid-19 related funding from the UK Government. Amounts received for 2020-21 were £9.752 billion and for 2021-22 are £4.812 billion. Details of the timing and split of funding received are included in the following table:
UK Government COVID Allocations to Scottish Government (£m) | Resource | Capital & FTs | Total |
2020-21 Funding allocated by UK Government - Barnett Guarantee | 8,600 | 8,600 | |
2020-21 Funding allocated by UK Government - Supplementary Estimates | 874 | 278 | 1,152 |
2021-22 Funding allocated by UK Government - UK Spending Review 2020 | 1,328 | 1,328 | |
2021-22 Funding allocated by UK Government - Budget | 1,206 | 1,206 | |
2021-22 Funding allocated by UK Government - Main Estimates | 1,000 | 1,000 | |
2021-22 Funding allocated by UK Government - UK Spending Review 2021 | 516 | 516 | |
2021-22 Funding allocated by UK Government - Supplementary Estimates | 707 | 55 | 762 |
Total | 14,231 | 333 | 14,564 |
Following completion of the 2021-22 Spring Budget Revision exercise total Covid-19 funding allocations are £14.855 billion, £291 million more than the total UK funding received.
The timeline and split of Scottish Government Covid-19 funding allocations is detailed in the table below. Note that the £1.152 billion received at Supplementary Estimate 2020-21 was deferred into 2021-22.
Deployment of funds to support Covid response by Scottish Government (£m) | Resource | Capital & FTs | Total |
2020-21 Budget Revisions | 8,677 | 11 | 8,688 |
2021-22 Scottish Budget Bill as Amended | 3,593 | 278 | 3,871 |
2021-22 Autumn Budget Revision | 1,050 | 1,050 | |
2021-22 Spring Budget Revision | 1,162 | 84 | 1,246 |
Total | 14,482 | 373 | 14,855 |
There are challenges when attempting to directly compare funding received and Scottish Government deployment on Covid 19. For example the £707 million received at 2021-22 Supplementary Estimates includes £143 million of "Budget Cover transfers" in relation to Test and Trace/vaccination. The UK Government does not classify this as a Covid-19 Barnett Consequential but has been included in the total Covid-19 funding received.
Despite the complications with timing, classification and judgement, the Scottish Government has deployed all of the Covid-19 funding it has received over the course of the pandemic to directly support Covid-19 response measures.