Public Expenditure: Scotland

(asked on 18th September 2023) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps, if any, they intend to take to review whether any money allocated to the Scottish Government for a particular purpose has been spent on a different area without agreement with His Majesty's Government.


Answered by
Baroness Penn Portrait
Baroness Penn
Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
This question was answered on 22nd September 2023

The Treasury are in regular contact with each of the devolved administrations to discuss the funding arrangements set out in the Statement of Funding Policy.

It is for the Scottish Government to decide how to spend their Barnett-based block grant in areas of devolved responsibility. However, ringfenced funding provided by the UK Government can only be spent for the purposes it was given and any underspends must be returned to HM Treasury.

The devolved administrations provide regular updates to HM Treasury on their spending through existing reporting channels. This includes spending against ringfenced funding.

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