The Scottish Government budget is an annual

Act of the Scottish Parliament An act of the Scottish Parliament () is primary legislation made by the Scottish Parliament. The power to create acts was conferred to the Parliament by section 28 of the Scotland Act 1998 following the successful 1997 Scottish devolution ref ...

, giving

statutory authority A statutory body or statutory authority is a body set up by law (statute) that is authorised to implement certain legislation on behalf of the relevant country or state, sometimes by being empowered or delegated to set rules (for example reg ...

to the

Scottish Government The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in ...

for its

revenue In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of product (business), goods and services related to the primary operations of a business. Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some compan ...

and

expenditure An expense is an item requiring an outflow of money, or any form of fortune in general, to another person or group as payment for an item, service, or other category of costs. For a tenant, rent is an expense. For students or parents, tuition i ...

plans. For the financial year 2024/25 the

budget A budget is a calculation plan, usually but not always financial plan, financial, for a defined accounting period, period, often one year or a month. A budget may include anticipated sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities including tim ...

was approximately £59.7 billion. The Scottish Government Budget Bill is presented to Parliament by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance. The current Cabinet Secretary for Finance is

Shona Robison Shona McRory Robison (born 26 May 1966) is a Scottish politician who has served as Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government since 2023. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she previously served as Deputy First Minister of Sc ...

who was appointed to the role in March 2023.

Purpose

The Scottish Government is ultimately accountable to the members of the

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...

and to the Scottish public for its use of public money and how its spending is allocated. The Scottish Government allocates funding for areas which include schools, hospitals, policing, certain social security benefits, the economy, climate change and the environment, amongst others, from the Scottish budget. The Scottish budget is primarily funded via the Scottish block grant as well as revenue from devolved taxes. An agreement between the Scottish and UK Government, known as the Fiscal Framework, details arrangements on how Scotland is required to manage its funding which includes limits on borrowing powers as well as arrangements for a reserve fund to allow the transfer of funding between financial years.

Scottish public finance

* Audit Scotland * Barnett formula * Commission on Scottish Devolution * Finance Directorates *

Full fiscal autonomy for Scotland Full fiscal autonomy (FFA) – also known as devolution max,McLeish reiterat ...

* Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland * Local income tax (Scotland) * Public Accounts Committee of the Scottish Parliament * Public Contracts Scotland *

Scotland Act 2012 The Scotland Act 2012 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It sets out amendments to the Scotland Act 1998, with the aim of devolving further powers to Scotland in accordance with the recommendations of the Calman Commission. It ...

* Scottish Consolidated Fund * Finance and Corporate Services Directorates * Union dividend

Budget acts

2000–2010

* Budget (Scotland) Act 2000
asp 2
, presented by

Jack McConnell Jack Wilson McConnell, Baron McConnell of Glenscorrodale, (born 30 June 1960) is a Scottish politician who served as first minister of Scotland and leader of the Labour Party in Scotland from 2001 to 2007. McConnell served as the Minister f ...

* Budget (Scotland) Act 2001
asp 4
, presented by Angus Mackay * Budget (Scotland) Act 2002
asp 7
, presented by Andy Kerr * Budget (Scotland) Act 2003
asp 6
, presented by Andy Kerr * Budget (Scotland) Act 2004
asp 2
, presented by Andy Kerr * Budget (Scotland) Act 2005
asp 4
, presented by Tom McCabe * Budget (Scotland) Act 2006
asp 5
, presented by Tom McCabe * Budget (Scotland) Act 2007
asp 9
, presented by Tom McCabe * Budget (Scotland) Act 2008
asp 2
, presented by

John Swinney John Ramsay Swinney (born 13 April 1964) is a Scottish politician who has served as First Minister of Scotland, first minister of Scotland since 2024. Swinney has served as Leader of the Scottish National Party, leader of the Scottish National ...

* Budget (Scotland) Act 2009
asp 2
, presented by John Swinney * Budget (Scotland) Act 2010
asp 4
, presented by John Swinney

2011–2020

* Budget (Scotland) Act 2011
asp 4
, presented by John Swinney * Budget (Scotland) Act 2012
asp 2
, presented by John Swinney * Budget (Scotland) Act 2013
asp 4
, presented by John Swinney * Budget (Scotland) Act 2014
asp 6
, presented by John Swinney * Budget (Scotland) Act 2015
asp 2
, presented by John Swinney * Budget (Scotland) Act 2016
asp 12
, presented by John Swinney * Budget (Scotland) Act 2017
asp 1
, presented by Derek Mackay * Budget (Scotland) Act 2018
asp 1
, presented by Derek Mackay * Budget (Scotland) Act 2019
asp 3
, presented by Derek Mackay * Budget (Scotland) Act 2020
asp 5
, presented by

Kate Forbes Kate Elizabeth Forbes (born 6 April 1990) is a Scottish politician who has served as deputy first minister of Scotland, Deputy First Minister of Scotland and Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Gaelic since May 2024. A member of the Scottish Natio ...

2021–present

* Budget (Scotland) Act 2021
asp 8
, presented by Kate Forbes * Budget (Scotland) Act 2022
asp 3
, presented by John Swinney * Budget (Scotland) Act 2023
asp 2
, presented by John Swinney * Budget (Scotland) Act 2024
asp 3
, presented by

* Budget (Scotland) Act 2025
asp 3
, presented by Shona Robison

References

External links

Scottish Budget pages
at the official

website *

Budget A budget is a calculation plan, usually but not always financial plan, financial, for a defined accounting period, period, often one year or a month. A budget may include anticipated sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities including tim ...

{{finance-stub