The Scottish Fiscal Commission’s forecasts are used to set the Scottish Budget, and Scottish Government officials work closely with the Scottish Fiscal Commission to provide the data necessary to inform its forecasts.The Scottish Fiscal Commission consider a wide range of factors and assumptions to produce their published forecasts and review these in light of the latest evidence. As the Scottish Fiscal Commission have noted, in part the forecast increase to the end of the decade is being driven by factors common across the UK such as the increasing demand for disability payments, increased cost of living, and rises in payment rates due to inflation and uprating, and the conscious policy choices that we have made in Scotland to mitigate the decisions made by the UK Government.