Work has started on a public project financed under Scotland's non-profit funding model after the deal to build the £47m Inverness College was struck in record time.
The Scottish Government must show it can afford all the costs of its planned capital projects, which could reach £7.5bn over the next 30 years, Audit Scotland has said.
Public sector recruitment in Scotland should include flexible and part-time working as standard, Holyrood’s Equal Opportunity committee said today. MSPs also demanded a timetable from ministers for...
Scotland could provide its own pensions and benefits systems immediately after independence, but it would be better to share administration with the rest of the UK for an interim period, Deputy First...
The Scottish Government is to set up its own version of the Office for Budget Responsibility when it takes on new tax powers under the 2012 Scotland Act. The move follows MSPs’ concerns that poor OBR...
Inward investment in Scotland last year was the second largest in the UK and the highest in 15 years, challenging claims that the independence debate would scare off foreign investors, according to...
Auditors have said that the botched Edinburgh tram project continues to present a ‘substantial’ challenge to the city council as it attempts to implement budget cuts and restore public confidence.
Around 14,000 public sector staff in Scotland received redundancy or early retirement payments between 2010 and 2012 at an initial cost of £561m, an Audit Scotland report revealed today.
Senior officers in Scotland’s newly centralised national police force have angered council leaders by suggesting that the police merger could form a template for getting rid of many local authorities.
Council spending on children's services, elderly people and road users has fallen as the austerity programme in Scotland deepens, according to a comparison of local authority financial data.
Scottish councils spent a fifth less on roads maintenance in a year but still managed to improve the condition of the network, according to the Accounts Commission.
Scottish Finance Secretary John Swinney has announced a £290.8m investment boost for housing plus plans to shift funds from colleges and police to make up for central budget cuts.
The Edinburgh-based Green Investment Bank is in talks with ministers about extending its funding for at least a further year, Public Finance has been told.
The UK and Scottish governments have today published sharply conflicting reports on the Scottish National Party’s proposal that an independent Scotland should remain within the sterling zone and...
An independent Scotland’s debt burden could shrink to around half the current UK level if it were credited with historic North Sea oil revenues, the Scottish Government has claimed.
Scotland is better placed economically than the rest of the UK to afford pension commitments, benefits and other social welfare costs, according to a Scottish Government report.
Scotland’s public bodies should use their £9bn purchasing power to exclude tax-avoiding companies from government contracts, a public sector union leader has said.
Scottish councils face a continuing spending squeeze in the coming financial year and it will be a ‘tall order’ for them to maintain services, the Accounts Commission has warned.
Holyrood’s finance committee has approved in principle Scottish Government plans to replace stamp duty with a more progressive form of property transaction tax.
Scottish local authorities today criticised the UK government’s ‘extreme and ill thought-out’ welfare reforms, warning they could have ‘a real and long-term damaging effect on the most vulnerable in...
Public finance systems in Scotland have failed to keep pace with the shift to results-based services taking place across the nation, a report from CIPFA Scotland has argued.
An independent Scotland would use public finances creatively to meet long-term policy goals, Finance Secretary John Swinney told CIPFA Scotland’s annual conference in Dundee today.
Auditors have criticised Scottish councils’ management of major capital projects after finding most schemes were late and cost ‘significantly’ more than first estimated.
