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Treasury figures published today show breakdown of the record £41 billion per year settlement for the Scottish Government

• Scottish Government receives £126 per person of Barnett-based funding for every £100 per person of equivalent UK Government spending in England and Wales
• Figures reaffirm UK Government’s commitment to levelling up across the whole of the UK

Figures released today by the Treasury set out how the UK Government will provide a record level of funding to the Scottish Government over the next three years – worth £41 billion a year. The Block Grant Transparency publication provides a detailed breakdown of the funding settlements announced for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland at Spending Review 2021.

The £41 billion annual funding settlement is the largest, in real terms, since devolution more than 20 years ago. It ensures that the Scottish Government are well-funded to improve public services such as education, housing, health and social care, and will support the UK Government’s mission to level up the UK and build back better and greener from the pandemic.

In addition to Block Grant funding, the UK Government is also making direct investments in Scotland, such as committing more than £170 million through the Levelling Up Fund and the Community Ownership Fund, which will help to improve local infrastructure, regenerate town centres, and could even help to buy your local pub or community sports club. Scotland will also benefit from cuts to Air Passenger Duty to improve connectivity and support jobs at Scottish airports.

UK Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Simon Clarke said:

We’re committed to ensuring Scotland receives its fair share, and the latest Spending Review has provided a record £41 billion a year to the Scottish Government. This is funding substantial additional spending on key public services – as set out in last week’s Scottish Budget.

We’ve also ensured people in Scotland have been supported throughout the pandemic, and the UK Government’s schemes have supported around one in three Scottish jobs. Now we’ll continue to work with the Scottish Government as we progress our recovery.

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said:

Funding for the Scottish Government is the highest it has ever been, at a record £41 billion a year.

The block grant settlement comes on top of significant direct UK Government investment in Scotland. We are committed to levelling up right across the UK, and are working with the Scottish Government and local councils to improve communities the length and breadth of Scotland. We recently announced a £191 million boost for Scottish community projects, on top of the £1.5 billion we are investing in City Deals in Scotland.

For almost two years, the UK Government has been focused on protecting people’s lives, livelihoods and jobs. We will continue to tackle the pandemic while building a brighter future with a strong economy for people in every part of the UK.

At Budget 2017, the Treasury committed to publish an annual Block Grant Transparency publication after each UK Government Budget to show a breakdown of changes to the devolved administrations’ block grant funding.

This report is intended to support greater transparency and accessibility to the people of Scotland as to how the UK Government provides funding to the Scottish Government

Further information

• The Fifth edition of the Block Grant Transparency provides information for the years covered by the 2015 Spending Review, Spending Round 2019, Spending Review 2020 and Spending Review 2021. The previous release was in June 2021.
• The publication sets out a detailed breakdown of the devolved administrations’ block grant funding and is intended to increase transparency of the block grant calculation process. This includes how much the devolved administrations receive through the Barnett formula and other UK Government funding such as for City and Growth Deals and support for farmers. It also sets how the block grants are adjusted in relation to tax and welfare devolution but does not include details of devolved administration tax revenues nor how they choose to spend their funding.
• The Barnett formula determines changes to the block grant funding in relation to changes in UK Government departmental spending. The formula essentially provides the same pounds-per-person change in funding in each nation of the UK. It is applied when departmental budgets change at Spending Reviews, fiscal events and Main/Supplementary Estimates.
• Further information on how the devolved administrations are funded can be found in the Statement of Funding Policy 2021