The Scottish Parliament's cross-party Finance Committee has written to Finance Secretary Derek Mackay and will table a parliamentary motion in protest at the lack of time it will have to scrutinise the Scottish Government's draft budget for 2017-18 – the year that Holyrood puts into effect additional tax raising and spending plans.
Mr Mackay had previously stated to the committee that the budget would not be finalised until after the Chancellor's Autumn Statement in Westminster, set for 23 November, and now proposes to release the draft budget in the week beginning 12 December. That only leaves the committee the week before and the week after the Christmas recess to consider the Government's detailed spending plans and submissions from Holyrood subject committees, before it hears evidence from the Cabinet Secretary and others and prepares its report, due on 27 January, ahead of the stage 1 debate on the Budget Bill.
The committee had requested ministers and officials to share "scenario planning" information ahead of the budget, to mitigate the effects of the delay, but Mr Mackay has now told the committee that no such advance information will be released.
Writing to the Finance Secretary on behalf of the committee, its SNP convener Bruce Crawford told Mr Mackay that his original reasons for delaying the budget were inadequate, but the committee accepted that "the resulting economic and fiscal uncertainty arising from the Brexit vote means that there is now an arguable case for delaying the publication of the draft budget" until after the Autumn Statement.
Despite that, the committee "remains concerned at the amount of time which will be available for parliamentary scrutiny after the draft budget is published". While subject committees, encouraged by the Finance Committee, were now beginning their financial scrutiny in advance of the draft budget, "this approach should not be viewed as a replacement for scrutiny of the draft budget document. It is essential that subject committees should normally have sufficient time to take evidence and consult with stakeholders once the document has been published".
Mr Crawford added that it was "unacceptable" that Mr Mackay, having previously told the committee that he was "willing to produce as much scenario planning information as I can", has now refused to do so in advance of the draft budget.
"The committee considers that without such information and illustrative figures it is unlikely that there will be sufficient opportunity for the subject committees to robustly scrutinise spending proposals in their respective portfolios", he stated. The committee has therefore agreed to lodge a parliamentary motion calling for a debate on the timetable for the 2017-18 draft budget.
"For the future, Mr Crawford concluded, "the committee believes that it is essential that the budget review group includes a thorough review of parliamentary scrutiny of draft budget 2017-18 as part of its important work. While the committee recognises that there is a need to maintain some flexibility in the timing of the budget process, there also needs to be a recognition that sufficient time is ordinarily allowed for robust parliamentary scrutiny.
"As such, the publication of the draft budget 2017-18 in December should not be viewed as a precedent for future years."
