The Scottish Government’s Draft Budget 2015-16 was published on 9 October 2014. This briefing provides information about spending on the Justice and Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service portfolios, along with the central government grant to local authorities to pay for criminal justice social work.
The Justice Committee has agreed to focus this year’s scrutiny on funding for policing and the courts. Additional budgetary information on these areas is set out, together with background information (eg on policy and other developments which may impact on the level of spending required in these areas). In addition to the figures set out in the Draft Budget 2015-16, the Scottish Government has provided more detailed (level 4) figures. They are available on the Financial Scrutiny Unit section of the Scottish Parliament website and, in relation to police and courts funding, also referred to in this briefing
As well as setting out draft budget figures for 2015-16, the Draft Budget 2015-16 includes figures for 2014-15 which reflect changes made via the Budget Act 2014 and the deployment of Barnett consequentials flowing from UK fiscal events. This was requested by the Finance Committee during last year’s scrutiny process. The updated figures for 2014-15 are used in this briefing as a way of assisting in comparisons between what is being spent in an area in the current financial year compared with what is proposed for next year.
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Published: 30 October 2014