The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Boosts for teachers, rail users... and prisoners
We delve into the detail of the Scottish Government’s spending plans
Away from the headline grabbers, teachers, police, rail users and prisoners are among the winners in the budget.
The package includes provision for a 13.5% increase in the starting salary for newly-qualified teachers.
The pay deal, agreed last year, will see the rate rise to £32,994 from April. Two years ago it was just £27,438.
Head teachers’ salaries will range from £51,207 at the bottom of the scale to £98,808.
If the budget is approved, the Scottish Government will provide up to £3 million for Fife College as part of the new Dunfermline Learning Community Campus.
Money will also be made available to improve college campuses around the country.
There is also a promise to provide funding “to ensure Police Scotland can maintain and modernise its estate”.
Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf, who lives in Broughty Ferry, recently said concerns about the state of some of the force’s buildings were “hyperbole” — only for the ceiling at Broughty Ferry Police Station to collapse the next day.
The budget also commits to supporting a public inquiry into the death of Sheku Bayoh, announced by the Scottish Government in November.
Mr Bayoh died in May 2015 after being restrained by up to nine police officers in a Kirkcaldy street.
He is thought to have suffocated as police lay on top of him, leaving him unable to breathe. A post-mortem examination revealed the presence of drugs in his system may have contributed to his death.
Another £7.6m will be allocated to help mitigate the effects of the so-called bedroom tax.
Officially known as the Spare Room Subsidy, this sees housing benefit recipients receive less money if they have a spare room.
In 2020-21, £59.7m has been set aside to help those affected, up from £52.3 million in 2019-20.
Additional money will also be spent to progress rail schemes such as the Levenmouth Rail Link and to improve services between Aberdeen and the Central Belt.
There is also good news for the Forth and Tay Bridge authorities, who will see large increases in their budgets.
They will share £37.3m in 2020-21, up from £21.5m in the current financial year.
The Queensferry Crossing’s budget will fall from £8.1m to £2.4m.
Another £70m has been promised for the country’s prison estates, including a commitment to complete the construction of the Dundee women’s community-based custody unit on the former Our Lady’s Primary School site on Hilltown, by the end of 2021.