Question reference: S6W-20369
- Asked by: John Swinney, MSP for Perthshire North, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 1 August 2023
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Current status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Shona Robison on 2 August 2023
Question
To ask the Scottish Government when it will update the Scottish Parliament on the Fiscal Framework review.
Answer
I met with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury John Glen on 20 July to discuss the review of the Scottish Government’s Fiscal Framework.
Following a series of negotiations, we have agreed on an updated Fiscal Framework, which will be published today. This follows the completion of an independent report into the Scottish Government’s block grant adjustments, which will also be published today.
This agreement updates the 2016 Fiscal Framework following a Parliament’s worth of experience and helps to keep the Scottish Government’s devolution settlement up to date.
Alongside this agreement both governments acknowledged the important independent work undertaken by Audit Scotland and the Scottish Fiscal Commission in providing scrutiny of the Scottish Government’s finances. Both Governments reaffirmed their support for these bodies and the calls from the Finance and Public Administration committee to increase this reporting as set out in their letter to the Commission of May 2023. Both governments noted that the Framework for Audit and Accountability which sits alongside the Scottish Government’s Fiscal Framework will also be reviewed in due course.
I would also like to thank the Finance and Public Administration Committee for its contribution to the public discourse on the Framework since 2016, including the evidence submitted to the call for stakeholder input to the Independent Report, and which have informed this revised agreement.