Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 24 February 2021
A debate about the future of local government and how the Scottish Government should fund our councils benefits from being set in the wider strategic context of work to consider how Scotland is governed overall. In that context, the Scottish Government is committed to the principle of subsidiarity and local self-determination, and the joint local governance review with COSLA is key to delivering what are shared ambitions. Considering how we share power, responsibilities and resources, not just between the Scottish Government and local government but with our communities, is a route to reforms that can deliver the best possible outcomes for people.
In response to the review’s initial findings, we jointly announced with COSLA that we will further empower communities and local councils across Scotland. We believe that that will help to create a vibrant and equal democracy where people understand their rights and actively participate in civic society.
The response to Covid-19 has once again shown that communities can achieve great results when they are trusted and resourced to take decisions about issues that make a big difference to people’s lives. We also know that the way that power and resources are shared between national and local government across all our public services contributes to the success of different places.
COSLA’s submission to the local governance review and subsequent blueprint for local government set out an ambition for functional and fiscal empowerment of local government, and made clear how that interlinks with our efforts to enhance community empowerment. The review creates an opportunity for councils to submit place-specific proposals for alternative governance arrangements that would help to deliver that ambition.
As part of the review, we already have agreement to jointly develop a fiscal framework between the Scottish Government and local government. We view it as another important opportunity to further strengthen our partnership and to empower local government. Due to the pandemic, work on that has been paused, but we are committed to introducing the framework in the next parliamentary session, if returned.
The debate is timely because, alongside our work on local governance, today we concluded stage 2 of our deliberations on Andy Wightman’s member’s bill on the incorporation of the European Charter of Local Self-Government into domestic Scots law. Our support for the bill symbolises the value that we attach to our relationship with local government as a sphere of government that we value and respect. It also symbolises an opportunity to create the conditions for further and more ambitious reforms and strengthens our relationship with local government by putting it on a legal footing.
However, that is not the end of our joint work and partnership with local government. As I said in response to the stage 1 debate on Mr Wightman’s bill,
“regardless of whether you have ‘Councillor’ before your name or ‘MSP’ after it, we are all here to serve and empower our communities, to make life better and to make society more equal and fairer.”—[Official Report, 4 February 2021; c 71.]
That endeavour is captured in our national performance framework, which articulates local and national Government’s shared aspiration for Scotland to be a country with dignity, fairness, respect and wellbeing at its heart.
That is also why, when the Cabinet Secretary for Social Security and Older People and I set up the social renewal advisory board back in June to advise Government on how to navigate a path for Scotland that leads us towards equality and fairness as we emerge from the pandemic, the board included representatives from local government. If we want to achieve the ambition of reducing poverty and disadvantage, it will require all of us from across all sectors to work hard and in partnership to support the people and communities of Scotland.
Moreover, we are also supporting many local authorities to use community wealth building as a practical approach to local economic development to support and prioritise improved wellbeing as a core part of the economic activity happening in their places. That includes looking at ways to maximise the role that public investment can play in creating opportunities in communities across Scotland and encouraging more small and medium-sized enterprises, co-operatives and other inclusive business models into the market. It also ensures and encourages a less extractive economic model and enables much-needed resources to stay local and benefit our communities.
I cite the joint working that we do, our support for the European Charter of Local Self-Government (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill, our work on community wealth building and our work on local governance, which already includes a fiscal framework. All of that does not fit neatly into the negative narrative that the Conservatives have brought to the chamber today, and nor does it fit into the realities of the budgetary support that the Government has provided.
The 2021-22 local government settlement of £11.6 billion will provide a cash increase in local government day-to-day spending for local revenue services of £335.6 million, or 3.1 per cent. That builds on the pre-Covid-19 2020-21 settlement, which provided an increase of 5.8 per cent for local day-to-day services. A further £650.4 million of non-Covid-19 funding will be provided outwith the local government settlement in 2021-22, which means that Scotland’s local government will receive more than £12.3 billion.