Meeting of the Parliament 05 June 2024
It is my understanding that, prior to the Presiding Officer’s selection of my topical question yesterday, the Minister for Parliamentary Business had intended to schedule a statement about the recent reports in the media that the Scottish Government would be handing back £450 million of European Union funds that are available for investment projects in Scotland.
Yesterday, in her answers, the Deputy First Minister told Parliament that those reports are untrue and that almost all of the allocated funds will be spent. She added:
“we will endeavour to spend as much of it as possible.”—[Official Report, 4 June 2024; c 3.]
That is hardly the most convincing line about the detail of the allocations of the money.
The Deputy First Minister added that 60 per cent of the available funds had been earmarked for local government investment projects, but there was no detail, nor did she elaborate on the Scottish Government’s acknowledgement that the initial available budget was reduced by €72 million because there had been a lack of demand or a lack of ability to spend the money.