The Scottish Government are set to publish their Resource Spending Review, which will outline the broad parameters for spending, over the next four years.
More focus will be placed on achieving net zero, delivering sustainable services for the future and tackling child poverty. As the nation recovers from the recent pandemic and as we build up to the cost-of-living crisis, prioritising public spending is essential to the growing of a stronger economy.
Finance Secretary, Kate Forbes, said:
“These are challenging times, and we need to be canny with our spending, but I’m confident that if we work together, we can get through this cost-of-living crisis and still achieve our ambitions.
That means tackling child poverty, driving our economic recovery from Covid, and achieving net zero, while building a stronger public sector that is sustainable for the future. We face a very difficult financial position over the next few years with funding increases below inflation levels and the challenge of recovering from the pandemic without the financial tools available to every other government in the world. That means while the spending review is not a budget, it will include difficult decisions, to ensure we can really focus on supporting households and services at this time.
The Resource Spending Review will detail the funding available over the coming years to achieve these goals, and it will be published alongside the Medium-Term Financial Strategy which gives economic context to the challenges and opportunities which lie ahead.”
With the cost-of-living crisis incoming, the Scottish Government is focused on ensuring that people, communities, and businesses are supported as much as possible. This includes the investment of almost £770 million this year in cost-of-living support and the doubling of the Scottish Child Payment to £20 per week. Expanding free school meals and providing £150 in council tax payments to low-income families are also included in the further actions that will help put money back in the pockets of people when they need it the most.
The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy will deliver the Resource Spending Review to Parliament when it is published tomorrow (31st May 2022).
