MSPs have backed plans to give Holyrood’s committees more influence to scrutinise the government’s budget process.
It marks the biggest change to how parliament reviews the government’s finances since the start of devolution, Bruce Crawford, the SNP MSP, Convener of the Finance and Constitution Committee, said.
It follows a report published last year, by an expert review group calling for the budget process to be substantially revised to take account of Scotland’s new financial powers and fiscal framework.
Under Holyrood’s new ‘written agreement’, the Scottish Government will provide a long-term perspective on the sustainability of the public finances.
That means each spring, they’ll produce a Medium-Term Financial Strategy for Scotland’s public finances published – the first of which is due at the end of May; and each autumn, a Fiscal Framework Outturn Report, setting out data for tax revenues.
Parliamentary committees will also be expected to exert more influence on government spending plans.
Crawford said: “For Parliament’s oversight of tax-raising and spending plans to be really effective there needs to be a shift from year to year scrutiny to a longer-term perspective.
“To that end, the Scottish Government will later this month set out its first-ever Medium Term Financial Strategy – its broad financial plans and projections for the next five years.
“The new process will also see a move towards multi-year budgets that will help public bodies to develop medium-term priorities and to plan more effectively for future challenges.
“Importantly, parliamentary scrutiny will include a greater focus on outcomes rather than spending.
“This will enable MSPs to better determine whether policy objectives have been met and public spending has been effective.”
Crawford described the plans as marking “the start of a cultural change and the biggest overhaul of the Parliament’s budget process since the start of devolution”.
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