George Osborne’s decision to raise the threshold for the higher 40p rate of income tax will not be followed in Scotland if the Scottish National Party wins May’s Holyrood election, first...
The collapse in oil prices helped drive up the notional deficit in Scotland’s public finances to almost twice the UK level in 2014/15, according to the annual Government Expenditure...
In the face of a tight spending settlement, Scottish councils are preparing plans for service cuts and council tax rises. The future of local government funding is therefore set to be one of the big...
Finance Secretary John Swinney has set Scotland’s 32 local authorities a deadline of 2 February to decide whether or not to accept a financial settlement he hopes will underpin a further year of the...
Scotland’s new devolved tax powers should be used to boost competitiveness, incentivise growth and stimulate enterprise, according to the report today from a commission set up by the Conservatives.
Plans to integrate health and social care provision in Scotland face significant risks that must be addressed if the reform is to improve how services are delivered, a report has found.
Implementing the Scottish Rate of Income Tax (SRIT) will cost up to £35m and 2.6 million people will be liable to pay it, the National Audit Office has revealed.
The consequences of greater devolution of powers to the Scottish Parliament was the hot topic at CIPFA Scotland’s Directors of Finance Annual Public Finance Debate
First minister Nicola Sturgeon has offered Scottish Government support for 270 Lanarkshire steelworkers who will lose their jobs in the wake of today’s announcement by the steelmaker Tata that...
The Auditor General for Scotland has warned Scottish ministers that they need to develop better financial reporting ahead of the devolution of new fiscal powers.
The Scottish Government has quit the UK-wide Commission on Social Mobility and Child Poverty in protest at plans by UK ministers to exclude the children of in-work households from their definition of...
Scotland lacks good enough data to support either current claims about its trade performance or the new economic powers coming to Holyrood under the Smith Commission reforms, according to a paper...
Scottish Ministers are facing mounting pressure to reverse previous opposition, and allow councils to levy supplementary taxes, such as charges on hotel stays or workplace parking spaces.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has set out reforms to school testing as part of efforts to improve educational attainment in Scotland’s schools. The moves form part of the SNP...
Scotland's deputy first minister talks to PF about the importance of service integration, the impact of funding cuts and Scotland's coming fiscal powers
Scotland’s first new national taxes since 1707 came into force today as the Scottish Government’s Land and Buildings Transaction Tax, a replacement for UK Stamp Duty, and a new Landfill...
Local authorities in Scotland need to do more to set out the long-term implications of borrowing for capital projects to ensure that councillors are able to better scrutinise investment decisions,...
Auditors have called on the Scottish Government to set out proposals to improve its financial reporting to take account of the new fiscal powers being devolved to Holyrood.
Scotland’s continuing obsession with wresting powers from Westminster is in danger of hijacking the ‘more pressing’ need to devolve power down from Holyrood to local authority level...
Scotland’s current budget deficit has fallen as a percentage of gross domestic product over the last year despite lower oil revenues, according to the annual Government Expenditure...