Scottish Consolidated Fund Accounts: year ended 31 March 2021

Notes to the Accounts

1. Basis of accounting

In accordance with Section 19(2) of the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000, these accounts are prepared on a cash basis.

2. Receipts from the Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland

These receipts are paid into the Scottish Consolidated Fund under Section 64(2) of the Scotland Act 1998.

3. Scottish Rate of Income Tax

The Scotland Act 2012 Section 25 empowers the Scottish Parliament to set a Scottish Rate of Income Tax (SRIT) for Scottish taxpayers with effect from 6 April 2016. Income tax revenues derived from Scottish taxpayers were assigned to the Scottish Administration commencing in 2016-17. During the year 2020-21, £11,424 million of assigned income tax was paid into the Scottish Consolidated Fund (2019-20 £11,684 million).

4. Receipts from Devolved Taxes

During the year 2020-21, Revenue Scotland paid over £607 million to the Scottish Consolidated Fund in respect of the two Devolved Taxes.

	2020-21	2019-20
	£000	£000
Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT)	450,490	559,991
Scottish Landfill Tax (SLFT)	156,281	164,597
Total Devolved Taxes	606,771	724,588

5. Borrowing by Scottish Ministers

Under Section 32 of the Scotland Act 2012, as amended by Scotland Act 2016 Section 20, additional borrowing powers were conferred on Scottish Ministers with effect from 1 April 2015. Any sums borrowed and repaid under these provisions must be done via the Scottish Consolidated Fund and hence be reflected in these accounts. The first sums borrowed from the NLF were received by the SCF in 2017-18. A summary of the borrowing position is set out as follows:

	Principal	Accrued Interest	Total
At 31 March 2021	£'000	£'000	£'000
At 1 April 2020	1,071,633	1,974	1,073,607
New borrowing	407,000	-	407,000
Interest incurred	-	12,705	12,705
Repayments	(51,943)	-	(51,943)
Interest paid	-	(12,526)	(12,526)
At 31 March 2021	1,426,690	2,153	1,428,843

Repayments of principal and interest in 2020-21 totalled £64.469 million (2019-20 £37.096 million).

	Principal	Accrued Interest	Total
At 31 March 2020	£'000	£'000	£'000
At 1 April 2019	692,927	1,438	694,365
New borrowing	405,000	-	405,000
Interest incurred	-	11,338	11,338
Repayments	(26,294)	-	(26,294)
Interest paid	-	(10,802)	(10,802)
At 31 March 2020	1,071,633	1,974	1,073,607

The repayment of borrowing is scheduled as follows:

	Principal	Interest	Total
At 31 March 2021	£'000	£'000	£'000
Less than 1 year	80,394	14,631	95,025
1 – 5 years	425,675	51,715	477,390
More than 5 years	920,621	99,578	1,020,199
Total	1,426,690	165,924	1,592,614

	Principal	Interest	Total
At 31 March 2020	£'000	£'000	£'000
Less than 1 year	51,943	12,526	64,469
1 – 5 years	229,171	44,442	273,613
More than 5 years	790,519	87,663	878,182
Total	1,071,633	144,631	1,216,264

Details of loans taken out are as follows:

At 31 March 2021

Financial year	Category	Term (years)	Amount borrowed Principal	Amount outstanding Principal
			£'000	£'000
2017-18	Capital	25	450,000	413,957
2018-19	Capital	10	250,000	213,993
2019-20	Capital	20	200,000	190,559
2019-20	Capital	25	190,000	186,454
2019-20	Capital	25	15,000	14,727
2020-21	Capital	25	150,000	150,000
2020-21	Resource	5	207,000	207,000
2020-21	Capital	25	50,000	50,0000
Total			1,512,000	1,426,690

At 31 March 2020

Financial year	Category	Term (years)	Amount borrowed Principal	Amount outstanding Principal
			£'000	£'000
2017-18	Capital	25	450,000	428,579
2018-19	Capital	10	250,000	238,054
2019-20	Capital	20	200,000	200,000
2019-20	Capital	25	190,000	190,000
2019-20	Capital	25	15,000	15,000
Total			1,105,000	1,071,633

More details on Scottish Government borrowing can be found in the Fiscal Framework Outturn^[4] Report most recently published in September 2021.

6. Voluntary donations

During 2020-21, a procedure was instituted in co-ordination with the UK Government and the other Devolved Administrations to allow businesses in receipt of non-domestic rates relief to voluntarily repay some or all of that relief. Businesses who chose to do so in Scotland were directed to make repayments into the Fund. Voluntary donations totalling £125.13 million were received in 2020-21 (2019-20 nil).

7. Crown Estate surplus

Under the provisions of Section 36 of the Scotland Act 2016, the Crown Estate Transfer Scheme 2017 transferred the existing Scottish functions of the Crown Estate Commissioners to Scottish Ministers. A new body, Crown Estate Scotland, was established to manage those functions. All revenue surpluses generated by Crown Estate Scotland are paid into the Scottish Consolidated Fund with effect from 2017-18. The surplus paid into the Fund in 2020-21 amounted to £9.97 million (2019-20 £10.1 million).

8. Fines, forfeitures and fixed penalties

The Scotland Act 1998 (Designation of Receipts) (Amendment) Order 2017, issued under the provisions of Section 67 of the Scotland Act 2016, removes fines forfeitures and fixed penalties receipts from their previous classification as designated receipts under the Scotland Act 1998 (Designation of Receipts) Order 2009.

In 2020-21, the total of fines, forfeitures and fixed penalties paid into the SCF was £14.3 million (2019-20 £26.9 million).

9. Receipt from the Registers of Scotland

Approval was given by the Scottish Parliament of the Section 17 Order under the Public Services Reform Act on 18 March 2020, coming into force on 31 March 2020, allowing for the repeal of Section 9 of the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000, and the transfer of reserves from Registers of Scotland. Under these provisions, £50 million was transferred to the Scottish Consolidated Fund by the Registers of Scotland in 2019-20, and £8.254 million in 2020-21, representing the balance of retained earnings payable to the Fund.

10. Receipts from and payments to the UK Contingencies Fund

The Contingencies Fund is used to finance payments for urgent services in anticipation of UK Parliamentary provision for those services becoming available, and to provide funds required temporarily by government departments for necessary working balances, or to meet other temporary cash deficiencies. A successful application was made for a short-term Contingencies Fund advance of £3,537.561 million based on the forecast funding required in March 2021, being the excess of funding required over the remaining UK Mains Estimate Budget cash requirement (available cash funding limit) for Scotland. An increase in the Scotland cash requirement was included in the UK Spring Supplementary Budget, which became available after the relevant legislation received Royal Assent in mid-March. Once the additional Spring Supplementary cash requirement became available, the Contingencies Fund advance was repaid via the Fund and equivalent funding drawn down from the UK Exchequer. The transactions involved are as follows (2019-20 nil):

	2020-21
	£000
Receipts
Received from Contingencies Fund 1 March 2021	3,537,561
Received from Scottish Government 24 March 2021	3,537,561
	7,075,122
Payments
Paid to Scottish Government 1 March 2021	3,537,561
Repaid to Contingencies Fund 24 March 2021	3,537,561
	7,075,122

11. Receipts for the Queen's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer

The Queen's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer (QLTR) is the Crown's representative in Scotland, and is responsible for dealing with ownerless property ("bona vacantia"). Regulation of the activities of the QLTR was transferred to Scottish Ministers by Schedule 8 Paragraph 1 of the Scotland Act 1998. Bona vacantia covers assets of dissolved companies, assets of missing persons and lost and abandoned property. The realised value of such assets is paid by the QLTR into the SCF. The balance of Queen's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer receipts paid into the Fund is as follows:

	2020-21	2019-20
	£000	£000
Balance in the SCF at 1 April	1,380	59,011
Receipts in the period	4,642	7,369
Payments in the period	(5,000)	(65,000)
Balance in the SCF at 31 March	1,022	1,380

QLTR receipts continue to be categorised under the heading of receipts not authorised to be used to support expenditure in the Income and Expenditure Account. In 2020-21, QLTR receipts accumulated in the SCF were authorised to be used to support expenditure to the extent of £5 million by the Budget Acts. This was paid by the SCF as part of the funding payments to the Scottish Administration in 2020-21, shown above as payments in the period (2019-20 £65 million, shown as part of the funding payments to the Scottish Administration in that period).

12. Analysis of other receipts not authorised to be used to support expenditure

As provided for in Section 64(3) of the Scotland Act 1998 (and certain other legislative provisions) all sums received by members of the Scottish Administration (and certain other bodies) are to be paid into the Scottish Consolidated Fund as Consolidated Fund Extra Receipts (CFERs) unless there are alternative statutory provisions. In practice, most of the receipts of the bodies concerned were authorised to be used to support expenditure under the Budget Act and the Budget Orders.

The Scotland Act 1998 (Designation of Receipts) Order 2009 designates certain receipts (designated receipts) and provides that sums equivalent to these are to be paid to the Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland, in practice for paying into the UK Consolidated Fund. As detailed in note 8, the 2009 Order was amended with effect from 2017-18 to remove a category of receipts (fines, forfeitures and fixed penalties) from classification as designated receipts.

The majority of the receipts paid into the Fund in 2020-21 relate to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service. Of these, £9.475 million relate to amounts recovered under the Proceeds of Crime Act (see Note 15) and £149,000 to amounts recovered under the Victim Surcharge provision (see Note 16).

2020-21	Receipts paid into Fund during period	Receipts classed as Designated
	£000	£000
Rural Economy	184	182
Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service	5,533	-
Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service	6,766	-
Total	12,483	182

During 2020-21, CFER payments were paid to Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland of £181,000.

The majority of the receipts paid into the Fund in 2019-20 relate to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. All of these, £4.493 million, relate to amounts recovered under the Proceeds of Crime Act (see Note 15).

2019-20	Receipts paid into Fund during period	Receipts classed as Designated
	£000	£000
Rural Economy	219	219
Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service	4,493	-
	4,712	219
Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service	(16)	-
Total	4,696	219

During 2019-20, CFER payments were paid to Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland of £219,000. CFER receipts surrendered to the Fund in previous years by Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service were repaid during 2019-20 totalling £16,000.

13. Payments authorised under the Budget Acts

For the period of this account the Scottish Parliament approved: Budget (Scotland) Act 2020 (ASP 5) as amended by the Budget (Scotland) Act Amendment Regulations 2020 (SSI 2020/197), the Budget (Scotland) Act Amendment (No 2) Regulations 2020 (SSI 2020/348) and the Budget (Scotland) Act 2020 Amendment Regulations 2021 (SSI 2021/163).

These Orders appropriate sums out of the Scottish Consolidated Fund for the financial year ending 31 March 2021 for the purposes of meeting expenditure in that year in connection with the functions for which expenditure is, by virtue of the Scotland Act 1998 and provisions made under it, payable out of that fund during the year.

2020-21	£000	£000
Scottish Government and indirectly funded bodies	48,054,638
Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Services	156,500
Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service	126,262
Food Standards Scotland	17,490
Registers of Scotland	15,863
Scottish Administration		48,370,753
The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body	94,900
Audit Scotland	8,500	103,400
Total Paid		48,474,153

In 2020-21, the Fund was required by statute to pay funding directly to three recipients, the Scottish Administration, the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body and Audit Scotland. These bodies are referred to as directly funded bodies. Funding paid to the Scottish Government in respect of the Scottish Administration includes funding paid by the Scottish Government to other Scottish public sector bodies. These are referred to as indirectly funded bodies. Registers of Scotland became an indirectly funded body with effect from 2020-21 (see Note 9).

During 2019-20 the authorised payments under the Budget Acts was £37,834 million. This is summarised below:

2019-20	£000	£000
Scottish Government and indirectly funded bodies	37,478,665
Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Services	137,500
Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service	104,574
Food Standards Scotland	15,600
Scottish Administration		37,736,339
The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body	90,200
Audit Scotland	7,269	97,469
Total Paid		37,833,808

14. Judicial Salaries

Receipts and Payments Account

For the period 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021

Receipts	2020-21	2019-20
	£000	£000
Received from the SCF	36,477	34,767
Income from recovery of overpayments	-	-
Reimbursement of salary costs	367	122
Total Receipts	36,844	34,889
Payments	2020-21 £000	2019-20 £000
Salary Costs	34,890	35,233
Bank Charges	1	1
Total Payments	34,891	35,234
Surplus/(Deficit) for the Period	1,953	(345)

Summary of the balance held at the Government Banking Service:

Balance brought forward from previous year	115	460
Surplus/(deficit) of receipts over payments for the year	1,953	(345)
Balance carried forward	2,068	115

A member of the judiciary took up a post as chair of an inquiry in 2016-17, and has continued in post during 2020-21; her salary costs continued to be charged to the Fund. The inquiry reimbursed the Fund for the member's salary costs commensurate with the time spent on inquiry business, totalling £367,000 (2019-20 £122,000).

The salaries of the judiciary are a matter for the UK Government. Information on salaries payable is set out in a report by the Senior Salaries Review Body. The 2021 report is available online.^[5]

During 2020-21 the number of paid judiciary in post at 31 March 2021 was:

Judges (Senators of the College of Justice)	34.5 FTE
Sheriffs Principal	6 FTE
Sheriffs	115.6 FTE
Summary Sheriffs	39.6 FTE
Members of Lands Tribunal Scotland	1.8 FTE
Chair of the Scottish Land Court	1 FTE
Deputy Chair of the Scottish Land Court	0.8 FTE
Members of the Scottish Land Court	1.4 FTE

Comparative figures for 2019-20, the number of paid judiciary in post at 31 March 2020, are:

Judges (Senators of the College of Justice)	34.5 FTE
Sheriffs Principal	6 FTE
Sheriffs	115.3 FTE
Summary Sheriffs	38.6 FTE
Members of Lands Tribunal Scotland	1.8 FTE
Chair of the Scottish Land Court	1 FTE
Deputy Chair of the Scottish Land Court	0.8 FTE
Members of the Scottish Land Court	1.4 FTE

15. Proceeds of Crime receipts

During 2020-21 a total of £5.215 million (2019-20 £6.300 million) was repaid to the Scottish Government in respect of Proceeds of Crime initially surrendered to the Scottish Consolidated Fund.

The net balance of Proceeds of Crime receipts paid into the Fund is as follows:

	2020-21	2019-20
	£000	£000
Balance in the SCF at 1 April	6,072	7,879
Receipts to the SCF in the period	9,475	4,493
Payments to the Scottish Government in the period	(5,215)	(6,300)
Balance in the SCF at 31 March	10,332	6,072

16. Victim Surcharge receipts

The Victims and Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2014 includes powers to introduce a Victim Surcharge, payable by offenders convicted of specified offences. The Victim Surcharge (Scotland) Regulations 2019 set up a Victim Surcharge Fund, and set out procedures for its administration, including the collection and allocation of funds. Victim Surcharges receipts were paid into the SCF commencing in 2020-21, where they are held pending payment to the Scottish Government for allocation. Receipts totalling £149,000 were paid into the SCF during the year, and no payments were made. The balance on the Victim Surcharge Fund at 31 March 2021 is therefore £149,000.

17. Analysis of the balance held at the Scottish Consolidated Fund

	2020-21	2019-20
	£000	£000
Sums due to funded bodies not yet paid	193,100	38,047
Designated receipts not yet paid to UKCF	1	-
NHS Trusts balance	-	41,611
Scotland Reserve	76,470	126,470
Lochaber Fee Income Scotland	7,700	7,700
QLTR	1,022	1,380
General SCF Reserve	8,980	7,527
Balance held at the SCF at 31 March	287,273	222,735

The NHS Trusts balance is the cash balance remaining after these bodies were wound up, which was paid into the Fund in 1999-2000 and paid out of the Fund in 2020-21.

The power to create a Scotland Reserve is part of the agreement between the Scottish Government and the United Kingdom Government on the Scottish Government's fiscal framework dated February 2016 ("the Fiscal Framework") to allow a reserve to be built up when tax revenues are higher than forecast in order to smooth spending and manage tax revenue volatility. £126.47 million was transferred to the Reserve in 2019-20, which was reduced by £50 million in 2020-21. The remaining balance of £76.47 million, together with the Lochaber Fee Income Scotland of £7.7 million comprise part of the Scotland Reserve.

Details of the Queen's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer balance held in the Fund and its derivation are set out in Note 11.

The sums returned by funded bodies are an accumulation of funding paid out to bodies directly funded by the Scottish Consolidated Fund over a number of years, parts of which these bodies have elected to repay into the Fund.

The balance on the General Reserve of the Scottish Consolidated Fund does not necessarily represent an amount available for appropriation by a Budget Act or other means.