The latest analysis of Scottish local government finances has shown that education and social work accounted for the bulk of council spending last financial year.
Scottish councils have called for greater certainty over local government funding in the future to allow them to deal with long term pressures such as pay.
It will be difficult to achieve the Scottish Government’s ambition for a huge expansion in early learning and childcare by the end of the decade, auditors have warned.
Scottish finance secretary Derek Mackay has defended the financial settlement for local government as his spending plans came under increased scrutiny by MSPs.
Nicola Sturgeon has asked the Scottish public for ideas about how the new Scottish National Investment Bank could help grow the country’s economy and spread the benefits across society.
Scottish ministers have been forced to admit that their controversial plans to halve duties for airlines serving Scotland’s airports have hit a Brexit-related snag.
Scottish finance secretary Derek Mackay has told MSPs that he plans to use the Scottish Parliament’s new borrowing powers “to the max” to offset the effects of UK fiscal austerity.
Councils have urged Scottish Government ministers not to marginalise local government in running Scotland’s schools, warning that any centralisation of provision would lead to increased costs and...
Scotland’s notoriously lethal love affair with unhealthy food could be targeted with a special junk food tax under plans published today by a new Scottish Government agency, Food Standards Scotland.
Scotland’s seven cities have presented Holyrood with a shopping list of powers, including fiscal responsibilities, which they say are needed to compete with English and other cities that are getting...
Scotland’s public services ombudsman has warned the Scottish Parliament that he may need additional funding to meet a rising tide of complaints from the public.
The collapse in oil prices helped drive up the notional deficit in Scotland’s public finances to almost twice the UK level in 2014/15, according to the annual Government Expenditure...
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced plans to make the council tax in Scotland more progressive and to end the nine-year rate freeze if the Scottish National Party returns to government after...
Scottish secretary David Mundell today urged politicians to shift political debate towards the best use of Holyrood’s new fiscal powers, after finance secretary John Swinney acknowledged that...
Senior ministers from both the Scottish and UK governments have been warned to come armed with good explanations for their difficulties in agreeing a fiscal framework for Scotland’s new...
In the face of a tight spending settlement, Scottish councils are preparing plans for service cuts and council tax rises. The future of local government funding is therefore set to be one of the big...
CIPFA has urged Scotland’s political parties to put the reform of local government finance at the top of their policy agendas for May’s Holyrood election and beyond, in the wake of a cross-party...
Implementing the Scottish Rate of Income Tax (SRIT) will cost up to £35m and 2.6 million people will be liable to pay it, the National Audit Office has revealed.
