Scottish budget information: FOI release

Information requested

Whether any single body consolidates total public funding across portfolios (for example education, culture, enterprise, climate action) into one tracked figure, and if so, which body and where that figure is published.

In relation to the total Scottish Budget (£67.9 billion for 2026-27):

(a) any analysis held of the overall return on investment, value for money, or measured outcomes of total public expenditure

(b) whether any value-for-money framework is applied across the budget as a whole, rather than to individual programmes, and if so what it consists of

(c) the total value of discretionary grant funding paid to external delivery-partner, intermediary and third-sector organisations in each of the last three years, broken down by: enterprise and innovation; equality and human rights; disability and additional support; ethnic-minority and refugee/migrant support; women’s services; culture and the arts; and community and regeneration — together with any consolidated outcome evaluation held for each

Response

Whether any single body consolidates total public funding across portfolios (for example education, culture, enterprise, climate action) into one tracked figure, and if so, which body and where that figure is published

Response to your request:

There is no single public body that consolidates public funding across portfolios for areas such as education, culture and enterprise. Alongside the Budget, the Climate Change Taxonomy of the Scottish Budget sets out how the Budget will impact Scottish Governments priority of tackling the climate emergency. Scottish Budget 2026 to 2027: climate change taxonomy

The Scottish Government collates public funding across all portfolios into a single, consolidated figure through the Scottish Budget. The annual Budget sets out the Scottish Government’s spending plans across all portfolios and provides an overall total of devolved public expenditure. This represents the primary source where total public funding is brought together in a single, coherent format. Table B.01: Total Proposed Budget for 2026-27 sets out the portfolio split of the total funding. Scottish Budget 2026 to 2027

Budget figures are subsequently updated during the financial year through the formal budget revision process during both the Autumn Budget Revision (ABR) (Autumn Budget Revision 2025-2026) and the Spring Budget Revision (SBR) (Spring Budget Revision 2025-26). These revisions amend the original figures to reflect changes such as additional funding, transfers between portfolios, and updated forecasts.

Similarly following the end of the financial year we published consolidated accounts (The Scottish Government Consolidated Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025)

In relation to the total Scottish Budget (£67.9 billion for 2026-27)

(a) any analysis held of the overall return on investment, value for money, or measured outcomes of total public expenditure

Response to your request:

We do not hold any analysis on the “overall return on investment, value for money, or measured outcomes of total public expenditure.”

Therefore, while our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. This is a formal notice under  section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

You may, however, wish to consider reducing the scope of your request to a particular policy area. This then would allow the Scottish Government to assign your request to a relevant business area for response.

(b) whether any value-for-money framework is applied across the budget as a whole, rather than to individual programmes, and if so what it consists of

Response to your request:

We do not hold the a “ whether any value-for-money framework is applied across the budget as a whole, rather than to individual programmes”.

Therefore, while our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

You may, however, wish to consider reducing the scope of your request to a particular policy area. This then would allow the Scottish Government to assign your request to a relevant business area for response.

(c) the total value of discretionary grant funding paid to external delivery-partner, intermediary and third-sector organisations in each of the last three years, broken down by: enterprise and innovation; equality and human rights; disability and additional support; ethnic-minority and refugee/migrant support; women’s services; culture and the arts; and community and regeneration — together with any consolidated outcome evaluation held for each

Response to your request:

We do not hold information on the total value of discretionary grant funding from the total, annual Scottish Budget paid under the specific groupings requested of: “enterprise and innovation; equality and human rights; disability and additional support; ethnic-minority and refugee/migrant support; women’s services; culture and the arts; and community and regeneration”. Therefore, while our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

You may, however, wish to consider reducing the scope of your request to a particular grant scheme, or specific grant recipient. This then would allow the Scottish Government to assign your request to a relevant business area for response.

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.