The Local Government in Scotland: Overview 2023 report from the Accounts Commission assessed that, with “little resilience” in local culture and leisure services “owing to long-term funding reductions”, future challenges to these services are “significant”.Figure 4 illustrates the percentage change in local government expenditure on culture and leisure services from 2012-13 to 2021-22 compared to other services.
Figure 4Local Government Benchmarking Framework, 2021/22SPICe analysed local government spend on Museums and Galleries, Other Culture and Heritage, and Library Services from 2011-12 to 2022-23 with financial data based on collations of individual local authority outturns (Scottish Local Government Finance Statistics workbooks and 2022-23 Provisional Outturn and Budget Estimates).