“Fiscal Sustainability and Reform in Scotland”

Portfolio Question Time – in the Scottish Parliament at on 15 January 2025.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Elizabeth Smith Elizabeth Smith Conservative

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Auditor General for Scotland’s November 2024 report, “Fiscal sustainability and reform in Scotland”, which states that

“the Scottish Government has not been sufficiently transparent with the Scottish Parliament or the public about the current fiscal situation”. (S6O-04196)

Photo of Ivan McKee Ivan McKee Scottish National Party

The Government has been crystal clear with the Parliament and the public—first with the 2023 medium-term financial strategy and 2023-24 budget, then through the fiscal statement in September and 2025-26 budget—about the challenges and risks that the public finances face.

We will continue to be open about the actions that are required to ensure fiscal sustainability when we publish the updated medium-term financial strategy and fiscal sustainability delivery plan later this year. The Government remains committed to improving our fiscal transparency and we are actively considering Audit Scotland’s recommendations.

Photo of Elizabeth Smith Elizabeth Smith Conservative

In the light of the Scottish Fiscal Commission’s most recent forecast about the projected increases in the size of Scotland’s social security budgets, I asked the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice last Thursday at committee, and the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy yesterday at committee, to explain where the money is coming from to pay for the increased social security expenditures.

All that I got back was that those are increased investments as part of the Government’s social contract with the people of Scotland. I will try again. Where is the money coming from to fund social security budget increases for the next two years?

Photo of Ivan McKee Ivan McKee Scottish National Party

The Government recognises the importance of supporting all our citizens. As the First Minister outlined in his speech this morning, our commitment to invest in the people of Scotland through delivery of social security is a critical part of that agenda. The Government will continue to focus on ensuring that we deliver financial stability and sustainability, and the work that we are taking forward will be articulated in our fiscal sustainability delivery plan.

Members can rest assured that the Scottish Government has balanced our books every year for the past 17 years, and we intend to continue doing that. We will meet our commitment to deliver for the people of Scotland by ensuring that the budget is fiscally sustainable.

Photo of Michael Marra Michael Marra Labour

The Audit Scotland report, which is the fifth in just 15 months, calls on the Scottish Government to urgently deliver public sector reform and put the public finances on a sustainable footing.

Scottish Labour welcomes the idea of a fiscal sustainability delivery plan, but can the minister assure us that it will not just be about back-office functions but proper public service reform in Scotland?

Photo of Ivan McKee Ivan McKee Scottish National Party

We are clear that “back-office functions”, as Michael Marra calls them, are a critical part of ensuring that we free up resources to the front line. In the interest of transparency, the cost of those back-office functions across the public sector is around £5 billion, which he will know from reading the work that we have published.

We will continue to bear down on those costs; we have saved hundreds of millions through the measures that we have already taken. Alongside that, we will continue to shift resources in the wider system to ensure that there is a continued and increasing focus on activities that drive prevention. Michael Marra can rest assured that the work that I am taking forward on public service reform is addressing all those matters, and we will continue to communicate to the Parliament about the progress that we are making.

Photo of Willie Rennie Willie Rennie Liberal Democrat

Audit Scotland’s report was very critical of the failure to lead and invest in digital for the longer term. That is certainly the view of James Blackwood, the artificial intelligence lead at NHS Forth Valley, who has said that patients are missing out on advances in artificial intelligence. Why is the Government failing to lead in that important area?

Photo of Ivan McKee Ivan McKee Scottish National Party

The Government is very focused on that. Only this morning, I had a call to engage with our digital directorate on the work that is being taken forward in Government and across the wider public sector to roll out digital solutions and to ensure that we make increasing use of artificial intelligence.

Willie Rennie will be well aware that that technology is moving very fast, but we are very focused on making sure that the Government and wider public services avail themselves of the advantages to efficient public service delivery that digital technologies and AI can offer.