Top Scots civil servant issues budget warning

MSPS told £4 billion to deal with the Covid-19 crisis will not be enough

The Scottish Government may need to make tough decisions to remain in budget, the country’s most senior civil servant has said.

Permanent Secretary Leslie Evans said considerably more than the £4 billion already committed for dealing with Covid-19 will need to be spent.

But she ruled out any prospect of ministers exceeding Scotland’s budget limit despite the exceptional circumstances of the pandemic.

MSPS on Holyrood’s Public Audit Committee heard the Scottish Government has spent more than £4bn combating the virus, not all of which has been made up by the UK Government.

Chief financial officer Gordon Wales said the latest total received in Barnett formula consequentials is £3.791bn.

Ms Evans told MSPS expenditure so far is more than £4bn, adding: “We know we are going to have to spend considerably more than that.”

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We need to assume we will have to reprioritise some of our spend. LESLIE EVANS

While she said “possibly some more consequentials will be released”, Ms Evans revealed civil servants will be speaking to Cabinet secretaries in the coming weeks about future spending.

She said: “We need to assume we will have to reprioritise some of our spend to accommodate that element of Covidrelated spend that is not being covered by consequentials.”

Mr Wales told the committee “reprioritisation” within the Scottish Government has already produced £255 million of savings.

Ms Evans added that she is “very clear” the Scottish Government must stay within its budget.

“We will need to take some tough decisions in order to do that,” she said.

Asked if it was possible the Scottish Government could “break the limits” of its budget, given the exceptional circumstances, she said: “We really have no choice but to stay within budget.

“That is both a responsibility and an important part of our history and achievements over the past years of devolution.”

She said the Scottish Government has been looking at how spending is prioritised, including areas where work needs to be reconsidered or paused.

She said work is being done to look at supporting “vulnerable” companies, tackle youth unemployment and support rural communities and education.