Deputy First Minister sets out Emergency Budget Review

Posted Thursday 3rd November by Admin User

Deputy First Minister John Swinney set out challenges facing the government and a range of measures it believes are necessary.

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Yesterday, in a statement to the Scottish Parliament, Deputy First Minister John Swinney set out the Scottish Government’s Emergency Budget Review. He outlined what he said are the challenges facing the government, including the cost of living crisis, impact of the mini-budget, rising inflation and a £230 million reduction in the block grant over the course of the spending review period.

He announced a range of measures which, he said, are needed to both balance the books in light of UK Government financial decisions and to fund pay increases for public sector workers. In total, the statement set out £615 million of cuts to planned expenditure, following £560 million of savings announced in September.

Within housing capital projects, there is £6 million of reduced expenditure in Buildings Standards projects this financial year and £4 million in reduced expenditure in More Homes due to “global supply chain issues causing delays to the pace of new building delivery".

The overall package includes already announced commitments, including:

  • doubling the Fuel Insecurity Fund to £20 million
  • an Island Cost Crisis Fund of £1.4 million, provided to help island households manage energy costs due to higher costs of living,
  • funding to local authorities for additional Discretionary Housing Payment support to mitigate the benefit cap and provide more flexibility to take account of energy bills

The Scottish Government’s main Budget statement will be on 15 December, following the UK Government’s Autumn Statement on 17 November.