Committee’s concern over financial memorandums will be given effect – minister

A Holyrood committee’s concerns over a lack of consistency in the Scottish Government’s financial planning for new legislation will be addressed, a minister has said.

Jamie Hepburn, minister for parliamentary business, told the Parliament’s Finance Committee that the financial concerns raised earlier this year would be “given effect”.

In June, the committee’s convener – SNP MSP Kenneth Gibson – warned that financial memorandums (FMs) which set out the costs of new legislation included “unrealistic” estimates of the costs and savings.

The Scottish Government was also warned that previous documents had used “lower projections in costings, despite both lower and higher projections being available”, with Mr Gibson warning of the “risks of overspending”.

Ministers were also warned to improve the “quality and consistency” of the documents.

Responding to the letter, Mr Hepburn said: “I am happy to confirm that the Scottish Government will seek to ensure there is consistent application of the Scottish public finance manual and the relevant guidance associated with it in relation to the development on financial memoranda.”

He also said documents will be updated to “draw attention” to the committee’s concerns, with Mr Hepburn stating: “My expectation (is) that they will be given effect to.”

Mr Gibson also said civil servants required “enhanced training” to allow them to provide better information for MSPs scrutinising the costs of Government Bills.