Portfolio Question Time – in the Scottish Parliament at on 1 May 2024.
Carol Mochan
Labour
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether it has funded local government adequately to deliver the services that it has responsibility for. (S6O-03370)
Joe FitzPatrick
Scottish National Party
The Scottish Government recognises the challenging financial circumstances that local authorities and, indeed, the entire public sector are currently facing. Those challenges were considered and were reflected in the local government finance settlement, which is providing local authorities with record funding of more than £14 billion in 2024-25, which is a real-terms increase of 2.5 per cent compared with the previous year. It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources that are available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities.
Carol Mochan
Labour
Councils and residents in South Scotland and beyond are feeling the true impact of successive SNP budgets, backed up by the Greens, that have taken the axe to council funding and services. Does the Minister understand the level of cuts in local authorities that his Government has imposed on the poorest communities in Scotland? Is it not the case that Scotland is now suffering from two out-of-touch, out-of-road Governments that it would be far better off without?
Joe FitzPatrick
Scottish National Party
No, I do not agree. We have just heard about the number of local authorities that have had to serve section 114 notices in the rest of the UK, where the SNP is not in Government.
I will talk about the rises that have come to South Scotland in comparison with the 2023-24 budget. In Dumfries and Galloway Council, there is a 5.7 per cent increase; in East Ayrshire Council, there is a 5.2 per cent increase; and in East Lothian Council, there is an 8.5 per cent increase.
I see that time is running out, Presiding Officer.
In Scottish Borders Council, there is a 6.2 per cent increase; in South Ayrshire Council, there is a 6.7 per cent increase; and in Midlothian Council, there is a 7.6 per cent increase.
We all recognise that these are challenging times for everyone in public service, but it is absolutely clear that the Scottish Government has prioritised local services and local government to the best of our ability.
Annabelle Ewing
Scottish National Party
I have two requests for supplementaries. I intend to take questions from both members, but they will need to be brief.
Elizabeth Smith
Conservative
Last year, the Scottish Government made a commitment, via the Verity house agreement, that it would introduce multiyear funding for council budgets, and, in November, Shirley-Anne Somerville made that commitment for the voluntary sector. I ask again, when is that going to happen?
Joe FitzPatrick
Scottish National Party
The member will not, I think, find any Division across the chamber on the importance of multiyear budgeting. However, that is absolutely impossible given the volatility of the current system in which the UK budget comes solely in-year for us, with no certainty and no multiyear aspect. It is absolutely something that this Government would want to take forward, but we would need to do so in partnership with local government and the UK Government.
Bill Kidd
Scottish National Party
With the Scottish Government providing record funding of more than £14 billion to local authorities, as has just been mentioned, can the Minister provide any update regarding the work that is under way to empower local government, including a new fiscal framework?
Joe FitzPatrick
Scottish National Party
Work on the fiscal framework is really important to the Scottish Government, and it is being taken forward as part of our collaboration with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. We are working closely with COSLA to agree a local framework. We published an update just last December, and we are working towards the fiscal framework being in place, subject to that collaboration, in advance of the 2025-26 Scottish budget.
Question Time is an opportunity for MPs and Members of the House of Lords to ask Government Ministers questions. These questions are asked in the Chamber itself and are known as Oral Questions. Members may also put down Written Questions. In the House of Commons, Question Time takes place for an hour on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays after Prayers. The different Government Departments answer questions according to a rota and the questions asked must relate to the responsibilities of the Government Department concerned. In the House of Lords up to four questions may be asked of the Government at the beginning of each day's business. They are known as 'starred questions' because they are marked with a star on the Order Paper. Questions may also be asked at the end of each day's business and these may include a short debate. They are known as 'unstarred questions' and are less frequent. Questions in both Houses must be written down in advance and put on the agenda and both Houses have methods for selecting the questions that will be asked. Further information can be obtained from factsheet P1 at the UK Parliament site.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
The House of Commons votes by dividing. Those voting Aye (yes) to any proposition walk through the division lobby to the right of the Speaker and those voting no through the lobby to the left. In each of the lobbies there are desks occupied by Clerks who tick Members' names off division lists as they pass through. Then at the exit doors the Members are counted by two Members acting as tellers. The Speaker calls for a vote by announcing "Clear the Lobbies". In the House of Lords "Clear the Bar" is called. Division Bells ring throughout the building and the police direct all Strangers to leave the vicinity of the Members’ Lobby. They also walk through the public rooms of the House shouting "division". MPs have eight minutes to get to the Division Lobby before the doors are closed. Members make their way to the Chamber, where Whips are on hand to remind the uncertain which way, if any, their party is voting. Meanwhile the Clerks who will take the names of those voting have taken their place at the high tables with the alphabetical lists of MPs' names on which ticks are made to record the vote. When the tellers are ready the counting process begins - the recording of names by the Clerk and the counting of heads by the tellers. When both lobbies have been counted and the figures entered on a card this is given to the Speaker who reads the figures and announces "So the Ayes [or Noes] have it". In the House of Lords the process is the same except that the Lobbies are called the Contents Lobby and the Not Contents Lobby. Unlike many other legislatures, the House of Commons and the House of Lords have not adopted a mechanical or electronic means of voting. This was considered in 1998 but rejected. Divisions rarely take less than ten minutes and those where most Members are voting usually take about fifteen. Further information can be obtained from factsheet P9 at the UK Parliament site.
