Scottish Government materials regarding Full Fiscal Autonomy: FOI release
Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
Information requested
“Any discussion of the response to this request (Freedom of Information Request response referenced 202500471960), which stated that no such relevant documentation exists, in the light of the fact that the Scottish Government published a paper in 2011 (link below) setting out the terms of the current government policy of full fiscal autonomy (called Full Financial Responsibility) in the paper which clearly states that:
"Areas of public spending which would be newly devolved include the welfare system, employment policy and elements of energy and enterprise policy. "
https://webarchive.nrscotland.gov.uk/3000/https://www.gov.scot/Resource/0039/00399383.pdf
This therefore includes state pensions and therefore would have been a relevant document to disclose. This may be an error on your part and if so please simply note that this was the case”.
Response
I enclose a copy of all of the information you requested.
To provide additional context to the documents provided, please see a brief explanation as to why the paper that you have referenced in your request was not provided in response to FOI request 202500471960.
The request was interpreted as relating to the Scottish Government’s recent calls for ‘full fiscal autonomy’ (a historic position restated in evidence to the UK’s Scottish Affairs Committee in January 2025) and the related public requests for negotiation/discussion with the UK Government on these matters in response to PQs, committee appearances, etc.
Accordingly, the scope of this request was defined to consider documents produced between 16 January 2025 to 19 June 2025. The paper you note was not included for that reason.
About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
Contact
Please quote the FOI reference
Central Correspondence Unit
Email: contactus@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000
The Scottish Government
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG