The 2023 to 2024 provisional HM Treasury fiscal outturn is £49.3 billion against a fiscal budget of £49.6 billion. The remaining funding of £292 million (0.6% of the total budget) has been carried forward within the Scotland Reserve if confirmed at Final Outturn with no loss of spending power.
Provisional Outturn - HM Treasury Budgets
The 2023-24 provisional HM Treasury fiscal outturn is £49.3 billion against a fiscal budget of £49.6 billion. The remaining funding of £292 million (which represents 0.6% of the total budget) has been carried forward within the Scotland Reserve if confirmed at Final Outturn with no loss of spending power. Table 1 provides further detail, with this split as £162 million fiscal resource and £130 million of capital. The Scottish Government cannot overspend against its budget and therefore a small underspend each year is required in order to achieve this.
Resource funding will be set against 2024-25 pressures and to support annual year-end audit adjustments via the Scotland Reserve. £109 million of the capital underspend was anticipated at the Spring Budget Revision, with the full underspend of £130 million to be used to support the 2024-25 budget.
An element of our budget allocation from HM Treasury is non-cash, which is used for accounting adjustments, predominantly depreciation. This underspend is £1.1 billion. It is not possible to use this ring-fenced non-cash budget to support any day-to-day spending. Non-cash funding does not flow to the Scotland Reserve and is not included in our headline provisional outturn results.
To note the Scottish Government's Consolidated Accounts, once published later in 2024, is based on a different reporting boundary to the Provisional and Final Outturn and therefore budget variances will differ.
| Portfolio | Resource | Capital | Financial Transactions | Total | Non-Cash | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £m | £m | £m | £m | £m | £m | |
| Constitution External Affairs and Culture | (5) | 1 | (0) | (4) | 0 | (4) |
| Deputy First Minister and Finance | (8) | 32 | 4 | 28 | (6) | 22 |
| Education and Skills | (62) | 3 | 0 | (59) | (152) | (211) |
| Justice | (23) | (1) | 0 | (24) | 1 | (23) |
| NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care | (0) | 9 | 2 | 11 | 3 | 14 |
| Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands | (50) | (21) | 5 | (66) | (1) | (67) |
| Social Justice | (8) | (9) | (12) | (29) | (19) | (48) |
| Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition | (61) | (29) | (2) | (92) | (2) | (94) |
| Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy | (50) | (28) | (9) | (87) | (3) | (90) |
| The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal | (5) | 0 | 0 | (5) | (0) | (5) |
| Total Scottish Government | (272) | (43) | (12) | (327) | (179) | (506) |
| Other Bodies within the Scottish Administration | (7) | 0 | 0 | (7) | (1) | (8) |
| Total Scottish Administration | (279) | (43) | (12) | (334) | (180) | (514) |
| Other Bodies funded directly from the Scottish Budget | (2) | 0 | 0 | (2) | (0) | (2) |
| Total Scottish Budget | (281) | (43) | (12) | (336) | (180) | (516) |
| Funding Adjustments* | 119 | (87) | 12 | 44 | (931) | (887) |
| Provisional Outturn | (162) | (130) | (0) | (292) | (1,111) | (1,403) |
* Funding adjustments relate to adjustments made after conclusion of the Spring Budget Revision which are not included in portfolio allocations.
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