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Financial Scrutiny

A main part of an MSP’s role is to inspect and analyse Scottish Government spending. They do this as part of their job:

• in committee
• in the Chamber
• representing their constituency or region

The Financial Scrutiny Unit (FSU) works within SPICe. It gives independent analysis and support to Parliament committees and to ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ. It advises on budgets and issues that affect the Scottish Government and Parliament. This includes:

• costs of specific spending proposals
• providing research on all areas of the economy and public finances 

The FSU: 

• helps ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ scrutinise the budget effectively 
• produces financial costs and analysis
• provides economic information and analysis

The FSU produces briefings and blogs on a range of areas such as:

• the economy
• finance
• local government

You can find briefings on our and our blogs on  SPICe has a range of  on the SPICe blog site.

The FSU also produce other resources and tools to help Members and committees with financial scrutiny.  

Scottish Government budget documents

SPICe budget research

• budget scrutiny for 2025-26

SPICe budget visuals

• Animation:
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SPICe budget tools

• Budget over time spreadsheet: SPICe 2025-26 budget Levels 1 to 3 Web version.xlsx
• Inflation-adjustment tool:

Barnett consequentials and other funding changes 

UK Government budget announcements affect the Scottish budget. The UK Government may make changes on spending in areas that are devolved in Scotland. This can mean more funding is allocated to Scotland via consequentials. The Barnett formula calculates these resulting consequentials. These are based on Scotland’s population share of changes to UK Government spending in areas that are devolved in Scotland. 

We would welcome any feedback from users. Please contact SPICe with your views.