1. To ask the Scottish Government what its provisional revenue allocation is for local authorities for 2024-25. (S6O-02966)

Despite a real-terms reduction in the Scottish Government’s block grant, the Scottish Government has provided local government with record revenue funding in 2024-25, and the local government settlement’s share of the discretionary Scottish budget has also increased. Together with the funding that is provided to support a council tax freeze, councils will receive almost £13.4 billion of revenue funding next year.

The figures independently reported by the Scottish Parliament information centre clearly show a 5 per cent increase on last year’s provisional budget—one of the largest increases seen over the past decade—but the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and others regularly challenge the figures and claim that they do not include additional obligations that arise or additional cash that is given to councils during the course of any given year. Can the minister assure Parliament that the figures in the provisional budget statement are accurate and are based on like-for-like budgets in previous years? Can he suggest any further mechanism that might allow the Government and all stakeholders to reach agreement on the figures that are used in future provisional budget announcements?

I confirm that the local government settlement has increased by £795.7 million, which is equivalent to a 6 per cent cash-terms increase, or 4.3 per cent in real terms. The figures that the Scottish Government uses are as required by the written agreement between the Scottish Government and the Finance and Public Administration Committee. We have compared the 2024-25 draft budget with the 2023-24 draft budget, which provides the most accurate like-for-like comparison of available funding at this stage in the budgetary cycle. Adopting any other approach would go against the agreement with the Finance and Public Administration Committee and the Parliament, and it would potentially be misleading to Parliament.

In relation to the revenue allocations for local authorities, what has happened to the new fiscal framework between local and central Government, which the Accounts Commission said would be delivered by September 2023 and which was supposed to include multiyear settlements?

A huge amount of work is on-going to achieve agreement on the fiscal framework between the Scottish Government and our partners in the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. Clearly, it has proven to be more complex than was expected. Everyone is of the view that it is important that we get this right, because it is an important step forward.

We absolutely accept the aspiration to get the agreement in place as soon as possible; that will be to the benefit of not only the Scottish Government and local government, but the Parliament. We are all working hard, but it is important that we get this right. We are taking forward a partnership between the Scottish Government and COSLA. No one side can drive this forward at pace. We need to work out how best we can achieve a fiscal framework that works for everyone, including the Parliament.

Local authorities across Scotland are struggling to meet the needs of citizens within the current financial set-up. The Accounts Commission highlights that the total budget gap in local authorities has increased to £725 million for the next financial year, which is almost double that of the previous year. Does the Scottish Government consider that that is in line with good governance practice?

One important thing in the Accounts Commission’s recent report was its assertion that no Scottish local authority was at risk of going bankrupt, as has happened down south. That shows a real difference in the way that the Scottish Government treats our local government partners compared with the way that local government is treated south of the border.

It is clear that this is a difficult settlement for us all in Scotland. The autumn statement did not provide the resources that Scotland requires, so the Deputy First Minister had to make difficult decisions in setting the draft budget, and I absolutely appreciate that local government colleagues across Scotland will have to make difficult decisions in setting their budgets.