Scottish budget could be brought forward by two days, says committee convener

The date of the unveiling of the Scottish budget could be brought forward by two days, the convener of Holyrood’s Finance Committee has said.

Finance Secretary Shona Robison had previously said she was “minded” to unveil her tax and spending plans on January 15 as a result of the UK Government not unveiling its Budget until the end of November.

The Finance and Public Administration Committee had complained that would not give it enough time to scrutinise the plans, hoping to bring it forward by a week.

Speaking at the Conveners Group – where the heads of Holyrood committees quiz the First Minister – on Wednesday, convener Kenneth Gibson said: “The Finance and Public Administration committee looked at the 15th, we would have preferred the 7th.

“But having deliberated with the Finance Secretary, a collective view was that Tuesday (January) 13 might be a sensible compromise which allows the Government that extra week after new year, but doesn’t derail scrutiny, which a Thursday statement might do.”

The First Minister said news of the apparent agreement “had not reached me yet”, adding that attempting to outline the plans before the Christmas recess would give ministers “quite literally no Government ability to respond” to the UK Government’s Budget due to the Scottish Fiscal Commission (SFC) requiring advanced sight of the plans.

“The response period would be a matter of days after the UK Government Budget to then provide the SFC with their statutory time periods to scrutinise the details,” he said.

Scottish budgets are usually announced before Christmas and go through the typical three-stage process at Holyrood to be passed in early spring.

The process is also further truncated due to the Holyrood election in May, meaning MSPs will leave in March.