Scottish Local Government Financial Statistics 2013-14

Scottish Local Government Financial Statistics is an annual publication that provides a comprehensive overview of Scottish Local Authority financial activity. The publication covers Local Authority income, revenue and capital expenditure, outstanding debt, local taxation and Local Authority pensions.

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3. Local Government Reserves, Fixed Assets and Debt

3.1 Reserves

Revenue reserves reflect an accumulation of surplus income. These are used to finance future spending on services. The surplus or deficit on the provision of service is laid out in Table 1.1; in order to be consistent with that table income is shown as negative and expenditure as positive in the following tables. Road Bridges are included in the General Fund values.

On 1 April 2013 local authorities had total revenue reserves of £1.784 billion. Over the course of the year total reserves decreased by £1.5 million (less than 0.1%) to £1.783 billion on 31 March 2014. Capital reserves fell by £9.7 million (1.7%), from £0.569 billion to £0.559 billion.

Table 3.1 - Movements in Reserves by Account, 2013-14

  £thousands
  Revenue Reserves Total Revenue Reserves
  General Fund Housing Revenue Account Renewal and Repairs Insurance Fund Other Statutory Funds
Level of Reserves held 1 April 2013 -1,099,062 -116,117 -190,828 -79,442 -298,872 -1,784,321
Surplus or Deficit on provision of services 637,793 195,562       833,355
Statutory Adjustments -575,189 -203,374       -778,563
Total Statutory Adjustments 62,604 -7,812       54,792
Movement between Accounts -56,101 6,417 11,135 -4,561 5,178 -37,932
Capital receipts for the year 0 0 0 0 0 0
Capital Expenditure funded from Reserves 0 -1,148 8,560 0 0 7,412
Other Movements in Reserves 4,025 581 7,351 1,358 -36,124 -22,809
Movement in Reserves -52,076 5,850 27,046 -3,203 -30,946 -53,329
Level of Reserves held 31 March 2014 -1,088,534 -118,079 -163,782 -82,645 -329,818 -1,782,858

Source: Local Financial Returns (LFR 23)

  £thousands
  Capital Reserves Total Capital Reserves
  Capital Fund Capital Receipts Capital Grants Unapplied
Level of Reserves held 1 April 2013 -449,885 -56,716 -62,520 -569,121
Surplus or Deficit on provision of services        
Statutory Adjustments     -33,581 -33,581
Total Statutory Adjustments     -33,581 -33,581
Movement between Accounts -6,583 44,357 0 37,774
Capital receipts for the year -48,486 -74,004 0 -122,490
Capital Expenditure funded from Reserves 28,932 52,761 10,637 92,330
Other Movements in Reserves 32,483 3,147 0 35,630
Movement in Reserves 6,346 26,261 10,637 43,244
Level of Reserves held 31 March 2014 -443,539 -30,455 -85,464 -559,458

Source: Local Financial Returns (LFR 23)

3.2 Fixed Assets

Capital Expenditure creates local authority assets. The value of Local Authority fixed assets is shown in Table 3.2 below.

Table 3.2 - Value of Fixed Assets, 2010 to 2014

£ thousands
Value of fixed assets as at 31 March 2010 Value of fixed assets as at 31 March 2011 Value of fixed assets as at 31 March 2012a Value of fixed assets as at 31 March 2013 Value of fixed assets as at 31 March 2014
Operational Assets
Council dwellings 9,140,999 9,780,140 9,475,119 10,450,805 10,839,706
Other land and buildings 18,182,691 19,132,148 18,955,480 18,978,739 18,276,923
Vehicles, plant and machinery 769,104 928,814 937,152 1,022,046 1,003,162
Infrastructure assets 3,941,374 4,335,085 4,432,109 4,751,596 4,987,041
Community assets 172,117 177,755 165,502 168,819 161,728
Heritage assets2 417,174 1,804,230 1,803,074
Total operational assets 32,206,285 34,353,942 34,382,536 37,176,235 37,071,634
Non-operational assets
Assets under construction 983,249 1,275,873 1,456,501 1,271,111 1,200,830
Surplus assets held for disposal 583,577 492,701 397,053 377,632 365,120
Investment properties 702,732 209,196 205,613 205,220 197,445
Total non-operational assets 2,269,558 1,977,770 2,059,167 1,853,963 1,763,395
Intangible Assets 42,756 18,052 77,184 19,747 23,913
Total Assets excluding Police & Fire 33,663,509 35,560,848 36,299,949 38,214,124 38,858,942
Total Assets 34,518,599 36,349,764 37,168,112 39,049,945 38,858,942

a. Total Assets for 2011-12 includes £649,225 thousand for South Ayrshire Council that couldn't be broken down into the above categories.

2. Heritage assets was collected as a category from 2012-13 onwards.

Source: Capital Returns (CR Final)

3.3 Debt

The result of borrowing to finance capital expenditure gives rise to a liability to repay the debt. The levels of outstanding debt are shown in Table 3.3.

Total Loans fund debt at 31st March 2014 was £12.95 billion (of which £9.93 billion was General Fund debt and £3.02 billion was HRA debt). General Fund loans fund debt decreased by £5.4 million (0.1%) in 2013-14 against an overall increase of £1.23 billion (14.2%) since 31st March 2010. HRA loans fund debt rose by £183 million (6.5%) in 2013-14 against an overall increase of £807 million (36.5%) since 31st March 2010.

At 31st March 2013, the Scottish average General Fund loans fund debt was equal to £1,865 per person and the average HRA loans fund debt was equal to £9,533 per HRA dwelling.

Table 3.3 - General Fund and HRA Loans Fund Debt, 2009-10 to 2013-14

£ thousands
31st March 2010 31st March 2011 31st March 2012 31st March 2013 31st March 2014
General Fund
Total Debt (£ thousands) 8,701,375 9,107,360 9,513,353 9,939,022 9,933,613
Per Head (£) 1,675 1,744 1,810 1,870 1,865
Housing Revenue Account
Total Debt (£ thousands) 2,209,731 2,383,441 2,621,205 2,833,400 3,016,569
Per HRA dwelling (£) 6,896 7,502 8,284 8,973 9,533
Total Debt 10,911,106 11,490,801 12,134,558 12,772,422 12,950,182

Source: Capital Returns (CR Final), Housing Revenue Account: Local authority housing income and expenditure, NRS Mid-Year Population Estimates (2013)

Table 3.4 - Outstanding Loans Fund Debt for each Local Authority, 2013-14

General Fund Services Housing Revenue Account Total All Debt (£000s)
Total Debt (£000s) Per Head (£) Total Debt (£000s) Per HRA dwelling (£)
Scotland 9,933,613 1,865 3,016,569 9,533 12,950,182
Aberdeen City 432,069 1,902 196,665 8,686 628,734
Aberdeenshire 386,007 1,498 133,128 10,302 519,135
Angus 124,428 1,070 36,425 4,680 160,853
Argyll & Bute 1 181,924 2,066 0 0 181,924
Clackmannanshire 88,089 1,718 30,762 6,263 118,851
Dumfries & Galloway 1 258,141 1,718 0 0 258,141
Dundee City 302,807 2,044 181,041 14,200 483,848
East Ayrshire 225,882 1,845 80,143 6,252 306,025
East Dunbartonshire 136,534 1,290 26,114 7,362 162,648
East Lothian 221,616 2,186 135,914 16,171 357,530
East Renfrewshire 84,772 926 27,675 9,167 112,447
Edinburgh, City of 1,150,256 2,359 369,359 18,629 1,519,615
Eilean Siar 1 154,627 5,643 0 0 154,627
Falkirk 173,206 1,102 95,419 5,876 268,625
Fife 624,347 1,702 192,839 6,412 817,186
Glasgow City 1 1,605,995 2,692 0 0 1,605,995
Highland 536,991 2,305 184,841 13,656 721,832
Inverclyde 1 232,008 2,889 0 0 232,008
Midlothian 107,675 1,271 145,546 21,137 253,221
Moray 134,142 1,422 60,096 10,124 194,238
North Ayrshire 155,585 1,136 108,088 8,233 263,673
North Lanarkshire 534,737 1,583 191,408 5,180 726,145
Orkney Islands 23,136 1,073 13,404 15,232 36,540
Perth & Kinross 200,239 1,355 54,158 7,342 254,397
Renfrewshire 139,901 804 143,181 11,407 283,082
Scottish Borders 1 193,842 1,702 0 0 193,842
Shetland Islands 12,079 521 16,130 9,180 28,209
South Ayrshire 120,467 1,067 59,347 7,361 179,814
South Lanarkshire 774,975 2,461 206,722 8,154 981,697
Stirling 139,843 1,532 37,389 6,765 177,232
West Dunbartonshire 110,170 1,227 142,062 13,345 252,232
West Lothian 367,123 2,084 148,713 11,531 515,836

1. These councils have transferred their housing stock to Registered Social Landlords

Source: Capital Returns (CR Final), Housing Revenue Account: Local authority housing income and expenditure, NRS Mid-Year Population Estimates

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