This, SPICe suggested, “has had the effect of making the increase in Health artificially high and the change in Local Government artificially low”.4Scottish Parliament, SPICe. (2024). Scottish Budget 2025-26: initial reaction blog. Retrieved from https://spice-spotlight.scot/2024/12/04/scottish-budget-2025-26-initial-reaction/
When pressed on this issue during evidence, the Cabinet Secretary suggested that “there are sometimes good reasons why those in-year transfers happen in the way that they do”, as policy decisions can take place in one portfolio and delivery of the policy in another.