Hansard

I offer Bill Bowman my very best wishes on his retirement from the Parliament.

Yet again, local authorities have a settlement that does not meet their needs. If members do not believe me, they should believe the motion that was drafted by COSLA leaders last Friday, which says:

“Leaders express their deep disappointment with the final local government settlement and note that the increase in public pay sector policy with no additional funding for local government and the reprofiling of capital funding for town centres and bridge maintenance over two years instead of the total being available in 2021-22”

means that

“the financial position of local government has effectively worsened compared with the publication of the initial draft budget.”

In the past days, COSLA leaders have asked for a meeting with the cabinet secretary and ministers to discuss what they believe is a gap in public sector pay policy. I hope that the minister will confirm in closing that ministers will agree to meet COSLA leaders about that concerning gap in pay policy.

Since it came to power, the SNP has moved continually to centralise control of local government budgets over the past eight years, and there has been cumulative underfunding of local government. We need a reset of the relationship between central Government and councils in recognition of that cumulative effect over many years. We must push powers down to councils and allow them to decide local priorities, as they are best placed to do so.

The SNP Government has presided over more than a decade of chronic underfunding of our councils. In fact, councils have faced real-term cuts to their core funding of approaching £1 billion over an eight-year period. That has had a direct effect on their ability to continue to provide essential services and protect public sector jobs.

Scottish local authorities also face a continued squeeze on capital resources from the Government in the form of a reduction in the capital budget. It is extremely worrying that that is set to worsen, because there are no increases planned for the next five years, which represents a real-terms cut to capital income. I find that astonishing. Let me be clear: less capital funding means less investment in key infrastructure such as schools, housing, community renewal and roads—which, for the general public, that means that their potholes will not be filled.

The Scottish Government must leave local authorities in a financial position that helps communities get back on their feet as we emerge from the pandemic. Local authorities have provided vital services throughout this national crisis, distributing financial support to families and businesses in need. COSLA asked for £770 million in additional funding for 2021-22 to deal with Covid, based on local government expenditure last year. The Scottish Government has announced less than half of that, with £259 million in flexible funding. The Covid shortfall against the COSLA ask is a staggering £511 million.

Social care workers have risked exposure to Covid every day for more than a year to care for people who depend on their support. It is time to give them well above the wage that they earn now. During the budget process, Scottish Labour called on the Government to consider a £12 an hour baseline, proceeding to £15 an hour in the next session of Parliament, which would be transformational in terms of the value that we place on our care workers.

We welcomed the cabinet secretary’s concession last week to increase the funding allocation for local authorities. However, set against more than a decade of underfunding, £90 million is a drop in the ocean.

Local authorities need consistent, adequate funding so that they can pay for local services. They must have a fiscal framework that ensures that they are able to do long-term financial planning. That framework must include both capital and revenue spend, and its detail should be determined through discussions between the Scottish Government and local authorities. However, a reset of that relationship is urgently needed now.

Due to the general direction of the Scottish Government’s funding policy for local government and the long-term implications of continuing to underfund the revenue and capital budget, Scottish Labour will not vote for the order at decision time today.