Letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Economy, 8 July 2021
My congratulations to you on your return as Convenor – I look forward to working constructively with you and the rest of the Committee.
I wished specifically to update you on the Government’s plans regarding a Resource Spending Review. Ministers have discussed the value of such an exercise and accordingly have now commenced work across Government to support a potential multi-year Resource Spending Review concluding in the autumn. The process, timetable and outlook will be contingent on what the UK Government ends up doing in terms of its own Spending Review, noting that in both 2019 and 2020 their plans for a multi-year process led only to single-year settlements for the Scottish Budget. I will continue to reiterate to them the value of concluding a multi-year exercise this year.
I appreciate the Scottish Government’s previous agreement to set out a framework when proceeding with a Spending Review, and subject to the Committee’s views I would be happy to expand on this in the coming weeks. For the avoidance of doubt, I am not currently planning another Capital Spending Review process following our publication earlier this year, but will continue to refine our capital spending plans as normal as part of the budget cycle reflecting the evolving funding position and our subsequent commitments.
I trust this update is helpful and would be pleased to provide further information as required.