Scottish Budget: Mackay pledges £240m for local services

Summary

Finance Secretary Derek Mackay pledges a funding increase of £240m for local services
Opposition parties said the amount of cash going direct to councils will be cut.
The finance secretary does not change income tax rates or bands - but does not pass on the UK Treasury's tax cut for high earners
Mr Mackay reveals the draft budget for 2017-18
£120m for the education attainment fund, with the cash going directly to schools, a u-turn with the cash coming from central government and not councils

Live Reporting

Craig Hutchison and Colin Bell

Postpublished at 16:46 Greenwich Mean Time 15 December 2016
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Postpublished at 16:46 Greenwich Mean Time 15 December 2016
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Postpublished at 16:44 Greenwich Mean Time 15 December 2016
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Postpublished at 16:42 Greenwich Mean Time 15 December 2016
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Postpublished at 16:37 Greenwich Mean Time 15 December 2016
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Analysis: Strathclyde University's Fraser of Allander Institutepublished at 16:34 Greenwich Mean Time 15 December 2016
Economists at Scotland's leading independent economic research institute says Derek Mackay's budget is a revenue raiser for public services.
However, it also kicked some of the more difficult spending decisions into future years.
Professor Graeme Roy, director of the Fraser of Allander Institute, said: “Today’s Budget contained little in the way of new surprises beyond what had been widely trailed in advance.
“The budget contained a number of policies designed to boost economic growth including cuts to business rates, and with Scotland currently growing at around one third of the UK, the government will be hoping these policies have an immediate impact."
Quote Message
By setting out spending plans for just one year, and with significant real terms cuts coming down the line, a lot of the hard choices have been left for another day."
Professor Graeme Roy, Fraser of Allander Institute
The institute says that next year’s budget is forecast to rise slightly in real-terms, but further cuts are planned for 2018-19 and 2019-20 of just over 3% in real-terms. Where these cuts will fall remain unknown, the academics add.
Scottish budget reaction: Transform Scotlandpublished at 16:23 Greenwich Mean Time 15 December 2016
Quote Message
While aviation gets a massive tax break, support for buses has been cut. This will impact upon the lowest income households in Scotland."
Colin Howden, Transform Scotland director
Transform Scotland says it is not happy that there had been a "huge" tax cut for air travellers while investment in Scotland's bus services had been cut.
Its director, Mr Howden, added that there had been an increase in spending on roads, with the budget up to nearly £1bn.
He said: With an 18% increase in the roads budget just in the past year, the Scottish Government continues to prioritise unsustainable transport."
Postpublished at 16:20 Greenwich Mean Time 15 December 2016
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Scottish budget reaction: National Union of Students Scotlandpublished at 16:12 Greenwich Mean Time 15 December 2016
Quote Message
It’s clear that students are in desperate need of fairer funding, and this budget must go further in addressing that before it becomes final next year."
Vonnie Sandlan, NUS Scotland President
The NUS Scotland president added that while it was "really positive" to see increased college funding, students were still left with the uncertainty of whether they would receive any financial support.
She called for some of the additional money to be used to boost the outdated, discretionary system students faced.
She went on: "And, while making much needed and welcome improvements to postgraduate support, the draft budget falls short on providing much needed increases in university places to deliver on our ambitions for fair access, and support for those students."
Postpublished at 16:04 Greenwich Mean Time 15 December 2016
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Postpublished at 16:02 Greenwich Mean Time 15 December 2016
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Here are the headlines from the budget from the Scottish governmentpublished at 16:00 Greenwich Mean Time 15 December 2016
- £304m in resource funding for the NHS, which is £120m above inflation
- £120m to close the attainment gap in 2017-18 - £20m more than previously announced
- extension to the number of business premises that pay no business rates through the Small Business Bonus Scheme to 100,000 and cutting the Business Rate Poundage by 3.7% for all business properties
Image source, bbc
- over £240m of additional spending power to support local government services, with "all revenues raised locally being spent locally by councils"
- protection in real terms for the revenue budget for policing
- expansion in the provision of free early learning and childcare entitlement to 1,140 hours by the end of this parliament
- investment in new and existing infrastructure projects, to support sustainable economic growth including
For more information on the draft Budget 2017-18 please see www.gov.scot/budget, external.
Postpublished at 15:56 Greenwich Mean Time 15 December 2016
More reaction on social media to #ScotBudget
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Scottish budget reaction: Scottish Green Party viewpublished at 15:54 Greenwich Mean Time 15 December 2016
The Scottish Greens say the government's draft budget for 2017-18 is modest in its ambitions when "bold measures are needed" to tackle poverty and protect public services.
Image caption,
Scottish Greens finance spokesman Patrick Harvie says "at first glance this budget is a missed opportunity when what's needed are bold measures."
They say Scottish ministers are sticking with Income Tax proposals that would give high earners an extra £178 a year.
The Greens have proposed creating new rates and bands so that "lower earners would get a tax cut and that overall additional funds would be raised for public services".
Happy SNP MSPspublished at 15:51 Greenwich Mean Time 15 December 2016
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Scottish Budget reaction: Scottish Labour viewpublished at 15:49 Greenwich Mean Time 15 December 2016
Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale said Mr Mackay had "acted like a Tory chancellor" as she claimed his measures would cut £327m from the overall budgets for local services such as schools and social care.
Image source, Empics
Image caption,
Unions gathered for an anti-cuts rally outside Holyrood in advance of the budget statement
Scottish government food waste targetpublished at 15:49 Greenwich Mean Time 15 December 2016
The Scottish government aims to reduce food waste by 33 per cent by 2025, which will put Scotland on track to deliver the UN Sustainable Development Goal of halving food waste by 2050.
Image source, bbc
This builds dramatically on the 5.7% reduction achieved in Scotland since 2009.
Scottsh budget reaction: Scottish Conservative viewpublished at 15:46 Greenwich Mean Time 15 December 2016
The Scottish Conservative Party believes Scotland’s place as the "highest-taxed part of the UK has been confirmed" following today’s budget announced by finance secretary Derek Mackay.
The Tories says he revealed to the Scottish Parliament that levies on people and businesses would be higher than elsewhere in Britain.
They add that in addition, Mr Mackay will cut £327m from council funding.
Scottish Budget recap: Scottish government sets out budget planspublished at 15:45 Greenwich Mean Time 15 December 2016
Scotland's finance secretary has pledged a funding increase of £240m for Scotland's councils as he set out his draft budget.
Derek Mackay also confirmed he will not change income tax rates or bands - but will not replicate the UK Treasury's tax cut for higher earners.
Image caption,
Mr Mackay's budget was the first since Holyrood was given new tax powers
This means the 40% income tax rate will start at £43,430, while in the rest of the UK it will be £45,000.
He also said £120m of government money will be given directly to schools.
The funding will replace plans to council-tax revenues to tackle the attainment gap, with Mr Mackay instead stating local authorities will keep extra cash raised as a result of council-tax reforms.
No love lost................published at 15:42 Greenwich Mean Time 15 December 2016
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