Scots budget has risen by 97% since 1999

14 Sep 06
The Scottish Executive's budget for next year will increase to more than £31bn a rise of almost 100% since devolution in 1999.

15 September 2006

The Scottish Executive's budget for next year will increase to more than £31bn – a rise of almost 100% since devolution in 1999.

The 2007/08 spending figure has been given in an Executive report on targets set four years ago. It shows that 135 of the 162 targets covering devolved services – 83% – have been either met or on course to be met. A further 11 targets have been replaced.

The Executive claims there has been progress and achievement across all portfolio areas, including employment, transport, criminal justice, health, education and sustainable development.

Finance Minister Tom McCabe said: 'This final report clearly underlines we have made real progress against the targets we set as part of the 2002 Spending Review. There have been genuine achievements across all issues, particularly our key priorities.'

He said growing the economy was the Executive's number one priority and that there had been great progress in delivering the transport infrastructure the business community expected.

The document shows that the Executive's budget has grown steadily each year, from £23.8bn

in 2003/04 to almost £29.7bn in 2006/07. According to this year's draft budget, it will rise to almost £31.3bn next year, compared with £15.9bn in 1999.

Executive officials point out that strict comparisons are complicated by factors such as the introduction of resource accounting and more recent budget regime changes.

All figures before 2002/03 have no capital charges in them and, from this year, budgets for 2006/07 onwards have been restated to take account of different accounting methods concerning student loans and funds from the European Commission and the European Union Common Agricultural Policy.

However, an Executive spokesman said that taking account of these figures and qualifications, the budget had risen by about £15.4bn – a 97% increase on the original 1999 position.

The Scottish National Party said the targets showed the Executive had failed to deliver on education, while the Scottish Conservatives said the document showed that many of the targets had not been met.

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