Framework Document between The Scottish Government and Crown Estate Scotland

9. Crown Estate Scotland funding

9.1 Income

Crown Estate Scotland obtains income from a number of sources including revenue from the seabed, urban assets, rural estates, mineral and fishing rights, and those stretches of the Scottish foreshore for which it is responsible. The management of the Scottish Crown Estate assets is either undertaken in-house or outsourced to managing agents.

Grants and Loans to Crown Estate Scotland:

• As per Section 32 of the 2019 Act Scottish Ministers may make grants and loans to Crown Estate Scotland.
• A grant or loan is subject to such conditions (including conditions as to repayment) as the Scottish Ministers may determine.
• The Scottish Ministers may, from time to time after the grant or loan is made, vary the conditions on which it was made.

Any grant application shall provide the Sponsor Team with sufficient information to enable the satisfactory monitoring by the Sponsor Team of:

• Crown Estate Scotland cash management;
• actual and forecast outturn of expenditure of a grant;
• actual and forecast outturn of expenditure/consumption.

Any grant should not be paid out in advance of need.

9.2 Fees or Charges for Services

Fees or charges for services or goods supplied by Crown Estate Scotland, should be determined in accordance with the its statutory duties and in line with SPFM. In setting fees and charges Crown Estate Scotland shall:

• set fees in accordance with the Fees and Charges section of the SPFM;
• have due regard to its duty as a public body and to the public purse, bearing in mind that those charges will have implications for other public sector expenditure;
• where required, in accordance with the Fees and Charges section of SPFM (Sponsored Bodies), seek the approval of the Scottish Ministers to proposed charges.

9.3 Authority to Spend

Crown Estate Scotland shall have authority to incur expenditure/consume resources in accordance with the Corporate Plan, on the following conditions:

• Crown Estate Scotland shall establish and agree with the Sponsor Team a comprehensive system of internal delegated authorities which should be notified to all staff, together with a system for regularly reviewing compliance with these delegations.
• Crown Estate Scotland shall not, without prior approval of the Sponsor Team, enter into any undertaking to incur expenditure, which fall outside the specific delegations set out in Appendix A. These delegations shall not be altered without the prior agreement of the Sponsor Team;
• Prior Scottish Government approval must always be obtained before incurring any class of expenditure for any purpose that is or might be considered novel, contentious or repercussive or which has or could have significant future cost implications;
• Crown Estate Scotland shall comply with the conditions set out in this Financial Memorandum regarding novel, contentious or repercussive proposals and with any relevant guidance in the SPFM; Crown Estate Scotland shall provide the Sponsor Team with such information about its operations, performance, individual projects or other expenditure as the Sponsor Team may reasonably require.

9.4 Bad Debt and Impairments

Write-off of bad debt and impairments is subject to the delegated limit set out in Appendix A.