West Lothian Council fund from Scottish Government on local services: FOI release

Information requested

You asked requested all information regarding the budget for public services improvements in 2014 and all information for the improvements of the Bo'ness bus station regarding the use for disabled people.

Response

The answer to part one of your question is that West Lothian Council received £329 million to fund local services in 2014-15, as part of the annual Local Government Finance Settlement. The Scottish Government’s policy towards local authorities’ spending is to allow local authorities the financial freedom to operate independently.

With regards to part two of your question, while our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide the information you have requested on improvements of the Bo’ness bus station. Section 17(1) of FOISA (information not held) requires Transport Scotland to notify you if it does not have the information you requested.  Transport Scotland does not have the information you have asked for because Local Authorities are autonomous bodies, and it is the responsibility of individual councils to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

Information relating to a specific budget or spend within an individual local authority would have to be requested from the local authority concerned, as such you may want to contact West Lothian Council to discuss Bo’ness bus station improvements.

About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.