Meeting of the Parliament 30 January 2025
We have already set out a number of priority projects in the budget. A number of capital projects were identified and named, giving a clear sense of priority to those projects. However, I will set out the longer pipeline as soon as I can after the UK spending review is concluded.
I thank the committee for its recognition that the Scottish Government has taken steps to improve the transparency of the new budget, and I appreciate the point that the committee has raised on the new approach on budget comparators and in-year budget revisions. There are complexities in the Scottish budget, where policy responsibility can sit in one area with delivery elsewhere. However, I will reflect on that to consider whether we can do more to simplify the presentation of the next budget beyond what we have already done.
I appreciate the committee’s support for the Government’s tax strategy, including our commitment to further develop evidence and evaluate tax policy. We will continue to closely monitor the impact of our tax policy decisions using a range of evidence, and we will publish further research on the impacts of that later this year.
On council tax reform, the joint working group met yesterday and agreed to begin a process of engagement and consultation this year. As part of that process, the Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities will jointly seek to build consensus across local government and the Scottish Parliament on potential areas of reform. Together, we will engage with Opposition spokespeople and council leaders. I also welcome the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee’s inquiry into council tax reform.
The Minister for Public Finance will speak more about public service reform during the debate, but I can confirm to the committee that the Government will continue to report progress to the Parliament at six-monthly intervals.