Portfolio Question Time – in the Scottish Parliament at 3:03 pm on 30 October 2024.
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve transparency in the management of Scotland’s finances. (S6O-03855)
The Scottish Government is open and transparent on the Scottish budget and the management of Scotland’s finances. Through successive open government national action plans, we have worked with the Parliament, its committees and wider stakeholders to improve understanding of our public finances, and 23 supporting documents were published for the Scottish budget 2024-25. We also intend to publish data on and analysis of public body expenditure by the end of November.
I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. Parliament should be able to scrutinise the budget and ensure that the Scottish Government spends taxpayers’ money effectively. Instead, we have creative, selective and often complex presentation of figures, key budget documents going unpublished and well-regarded voices, including those of the Fraser of Allander Institute and Audit Scotland, criticising the Government’s failure on transparency. Can the cabinet secretary guarantee that all the agreed information will be supplied to the Scottish Fiscal Commission ahead of the Scottish budget? Will she use the 2025-26 budget to put an end to 17 years of creative accounting and financial sleight of hand?
I do not accept that characterisation at all. In fact, for 17 years, we have delivered a balanced budget. For last year, we again had an unqualified set of audited opinion, so there has been no qualification by the auditors of the Scottish Government’s finances. Foysol Choudhury should reflect on that when he uses such language.
With regard to scrutiny and transparency, for this budget, I have agreed to attend additional evidence sessions with the Finance and Public Administration Committee and we will make sure that information is available, as we always do. I very much recognise the important role of the Scottish Fiscal Commission. We will provide the Scottish Fiscal Commission with the information that it requires to produce reports, which I know are important for this Parliament’s scrutiny.