Ministers should stop trying to impose their will on Scotland’s Budget, and accept a process that takes better account of Holyrood’s tendency for minority government, the co-leader of the...
Scottish finance secretary Derek Mackay has announced a £44m business rates relief package in the hope of heading off a threatened campaign of non-payment among Scottish businesses outraged at the...
The Prudential Code, which guides local authorities’ capital borrowing, is no longer fit for purpose in Scotland’s changed economic and fiscal climate and should be replaced by a shared system of...
Scotland’s finance secretary Derek Mackay has urged UK chief secretary to the Treasury David Gauke to waive a £35m annual VAT bill imposed on Scotland’s national police and fire services.
A wall collapse last year at an Edinburgh primary school built under the controversial Private Finance Initiative funding system was not the fault of PFI, an independent report has concluded.
Scotland’s first Budget since Holyrood gained control of income tax has passed its key parliamentary test, after an 11th hour deal between finance secretary Derek Mackay and the Scottish Greens to...
The presiding officer’s casting vote has enabled finance secretary Derek Mackay to escape a symbolic Holyrood defeat on the eve of publishing his Budget Bill.
Holyrood's plan to remove education funding from local authorities ramps up financial risk and might not improve student outcomes. A transitional period would be helpful
Senior council executives in Scotland should lose their system of multi-thousand pound payments for acting as returning officers at elections and referendums, according to MSPs.
Edinburgh looks set to become the first city in Scotland to impose a so-called “tourism tax” on visitors, with the proceeds to be ploughed back into support for the city’s...
Theresa May’s stance on Brexit has made it more likely that a second referendum on Scottish independence will take place, Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon has implied.
The Scottish Government has announced the first changes to its benefits regime under the welfare powers devolved by last year’s Scotland Act – but was criticised by its opponents for not...
Scottish finance secretary Derek Mackay has told MSPs that he plans to use the Scottish Parliament’s new borrowing powers “to the max” to offset the effects of UK fiscal austerity.
The main Scottish teaching union has warned that the proposed reforms of the nation’s school system are likely be a distraction from the task of improving education.
Scottish auditor general Caroline Gardner has today raised concerns about the weak financial leadership in the country’s policing bodies and stated their continuing poor financial management was...
Scotland’s local government watchdog has reiterated concerns about the finances of East Dunbartonshire Council and warned the authority is not on schedule to make the £27.6m in savings it needs in...
Scottish finance secretary Derek Mackay has backed down on a bitterly opposed plan to commandeer £100m of council tax receipts into implementing national schools policy, but has been told by smaller...
A tripartite review of Holyrood’s budget processes to prepare for its new devolved tax powers will go beyond that remit and look at future proofing the Scottish Parliament’s processes...
Scotland’s municipal spending watchdog has praised the financial management of the country’s local authorities over the past year, but warned them of a bleak future of shrinking budgets...
Scotland stands to gain just over £800m in extra capital spending over the next five years from the increased investment announced by chancellor Philip Hammond in the Autumn Statement today.
Scotland’s biggest local authority grouping has pulled out of talks with ministers and officials over a Scottish Government plan to hand £100m of council tax revenues directly to head teachers in an...
Scottish universities are concerned that plans to co-ordinate the governance of four economy-related quangos under a single board could compromise their funding arrangements and independence.
Senior local government finance figures in Scotland have raised concerns that the Scottish Government’s public service reform plan is placing too much focus on governance changes, to the...
