Scottish economy and UK block grant queries: FOI release

Information requested

Does the Scottish Government have figures for the amount of the UK block grant that is retained in Scotland? I would also be interested in any related figures for the velocity of £s in Scotland (the amount of time a £unit remains in the Scottish economy before being removed either abroad or to rUK), The amount paid directly by the Scottish Government to foreign or rUK firms, and the percentage of spending allocated to freeports and related companies.

Response

Does the Scottish government have figures for the amount of the UK block grant that is retained in Scotland?

The overall UK Budget is set out as part of budget documents published by the UK Government. This contains the budget to be provided to the Scottish Government. The latest published budget document is available in the link below, with table C.2 illustrating the total DEL budget provided to the Scottish Government Autumn Budget 2024 – HC 295

The Scottish Government does not hold figures on the total amount of the UK Block Grant that is retained in Scotland.

Velocity of £s in Scotland (the amount of time a £unit remains in the Scottish economy before being removed either abroad or to rUK)

The Scottish Government does not hold data on the velocity of spending in Scotland.

The amount paid directly by the Scottish government to foreign or rUK firms

In the most recent reporting year 2023/2024, based on data taken from the Scottish Government’s Procurement Information Hub, the core Scottish Government total spend with suppliers within the UK was £560,385,499.71 based on known postcodes. The postcode is obtained from a supplier’s invoice address. Regions and local authority boundaries are determined by areas specified by the Office of National Statistics (ONS). This spend is broken down between Scotland and rUK below. 

Total Spend in Scotland (where postcode is known)	£177,214,157.03
Total Spend in rUK (where postcode is known)	£383,171,342.68
Total Spend in UK (where postcode is known)	£560,385,499.71

These figures are included in the most recently published Scottish Government procurement: annual report 2023 to 2024 - gov.scot and where you can find other key spending by the Scottish Government in the reporting period 2023/2024.

I would also like to draw your attention to our regular published spend for transactions over £500 for electronic Purchasing Cards (ePC): Government spend over £500: monthly reports - gov.scot and our monthly and annual reports of Scottish Government spend over £25,000 Government spend over £25,000: monthly and annual reports - gov.scot, which are both included in the table and report above.

The percentage of spending allocated to freeports and related companies.

As per the table below, the UK Government (UKG) provided Scottish Government (SG) with £430k in revenue funding for capacity building in Green Freeports (GFP’s) in 2023/24 which was disbursed to the GFP’s via their accountable bodies (Highland Council and Falkirk Council). UKG have transferred £5.27m in capital to the SG for disbursement to the GFP’s as Seed Capital Funding via their accountable bodies in 2025/26. Additionally, some Green Freeports spending is funded by Scottish Government as shown in the table.

Green Freeports	Actual Spend		Planned
	2023/24	2024/25	2025/26
	£m	£m	£m
Capacity Funding (RDEL)
SG	0.170	0.800	0.000
UKG	0.430	0.000	0.000
Seed Capital Funding (CDEL)
SG	0.000	0.000	1.940
UKG	0.000	0.000	5.270

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