Shona Robison to set out fresh spending cuts next month

Finance secretary Shona Robison will set out further spending cuts in a statement to parliament next month.

In a letter to Holyrood’s finance committee, Robison said she would outline the “scale of the fiscal pressures” and the “action the Scottish Government is taking to address this challenge”.

It follows the introduction of emergency spending controls across Scottish Government departments.

In a letter to her fellow cabinet ministers earlier this month, she said further spending in the current budget year would only be permitted it is it “truly essential or unavoidable”.

The UK Government is to deliver its autumn statement on 30 October.

While Chancellor Rachel Reeves has confirmed a number of pay rises for public sector workers, she said in July departments would be expected to “find savings to absorb as much of this as possible”.

This means additional cash will not be available for the Scottish Government through Barnett consequentials.

In her letter to the finance committee, Robison said: “The Scottish Government, along with government and public sector bodies across the UK, faces a very challenging environment as we manage our finances through the current financial year and set our budget for 2025-26.

“I am working with my cabinet colleagues to agree the necessary actions to reduce expenditure and ensure our finances are on a sustainable footing.

“Further to this, additional measures are now necessary following the UK Treasury’s recent audit of public spending and lack of clarity over whether their decision to deliver Pay Review Body recommendations will be fully funded.”

Writing for Holyrood earlier this month, the director of economic thinktank the Fraser of Allander Institute, Professor Mairi Spowage, highlighted a “large gap in 2024-25 between the commitments the government has compared to the resources available to the Scottish Government”.

This gap led to an emergency budget review.

Spowage also called for the Scottish Government to be more transparent about its public sector pay policy.

The finance secretary is set to meet with the committee next week to discuss these issues and the timing of the next Scottish budget.

MSPs return from summer recess the week after, when First Minister John Swinney is expected to set out his legislative priorities for the year ahead in his first programme for government.

Robison added: “I will be looking to bring forward a full update to parliament in early September. During this statement, I will set out in detail the scale of the fiscal pressures that we are facing, in 2024-25 and beyond, and the action the Scottish Government is taking to address this challenge."