Scotland’s new budget is ‘extremely disappointing’, COSLA says
The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) has described the draft budget as a ‘missed opportunity’ for communities in the area of public service reform.
Last month the Scottish draft budget for 2024-25 was unveiled, but today, Wednesday 3rd December, COSLA – the voice of local government in the country – have deemed it as unacceptable.
Established in 1975, COSLA claimed that the budget fails to treat council leaders, councillors, the local government workforce, and communities with the respect that they deserve. Instead of making cuts to their services, COSLA have argued they should be experiencing investment.
Within the budget, the Scottish government have currently prioritised capital funding to the following public services:
- 72% to prisons
- 31% to fire services
- 28% to courts
- 13% to the police
- 11% to the NHS
- 21% to local government
Speaking up on these statistics, COSLA said: ‘At a special meeting just before Christmas, there was dismay and frustration from Scotland’s council leaders about the way local government and the communities we represent had been treated in the Scottish government’s draft budget. As the budget currently stands, communities will see and feel a range of negative impacts.
‘COSLA’s ‘Councils are Key’ budget lobbying campaign set out the case for fair funding that would allow local government to deliver for the people of Scotland, particularly around delivering sustainable person-centred public services – one of the three shared priorities laid out in the Verity House Agreement.’
‘The response from the Scottish government to our budget ask is extremely disappointing and will mean that the potential that councils have to prevent problems occurring will be limited severely,’ COSLA added. ‘The budget as it stands leaves not a single penny for transformational public service reform – there is very limited scope for a focus on ‘Spend to Save.’ The 2024/25 Budget shows a clear difference between the treatment of Local Government and other public bodies, with Local Government disproportionately impacted by cuts to capital funding.’
As well as highlighting the current problems with Scotland’s budget, COSLA have suggested that the government should adopt a ‘person-centred’ approach which will help them pinpoint where the biggest problem areas lie and what needs urgent attention.
To help drive change, COSLA’s president, vice president and political group leaders from all parties have written to the deputy first minister and are seeking an urgent meeting.
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