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Lowest underspend so far
25/06/2009
Provisional spending figures for 2008-09 show the Scottish Government has delivered the lowest underspend since devolution for the second year in a row, the Parliament was told today.
In a statement to MSPs, Finance Secretary John Swinney reported that just £31 million of the planned budget of approximately £28 billion was not spent.
Mr Swinney said:
"We are working hard to maximise investment in Scottish economic recovery and our vital public services. In that context, making full use of all the resources available to us is more important than ever before.
"Therefore these figures are extremely encouraging. They show that this Government has delivered a record low underspend for the second year in a row. Long gone are the days when hundreds of millions of pounds of Government money would be underspent each year, doing nothing to help communities across the country.
"It means less money - just 0.1 per cent of our budget - is heading into the Scottish Government's End Year Flexibility balance, held by HM Treasury.
"Instead we have been able to spend virtually all the money available to us including accelerated capital across a range of programmes such as housing and schools. That spending demonstrates the clear priority we have given the economic recovery programme, which is supporting some 15,000 jobs in Scotland. Real evidence that maximising our resources is making a difference to our economy.
"Of course the whole process highlights the shortcomings of the current arrangements. Scotland should be able to manage all its resources without having to surrender what it doesn't spend to Westminster. The full powers of fiscal autonomy through independence are clearly the only way to put this country on the path to long term success."
For purposes of comparison the figures for the last five years are:
- 2007-08 - £41 million
- 2006-07 - £135 million
- 2005-06 - £139 million
- 2004-05 - £382 million
- 2003-04 - £623 million