Five things you need to know today
Scottish Affairs Committee to discuss Barnett formula
The Scottish Affairs Committee will hold the first evidence session of its inquiry into the financing of the Scottish Government.
During the inquiry, MPs will examine the current funding model for The Scottish Government and the wider framework for fiscal devolution.
Today the Committee will question expert commentators on the effectiveness and fairness of the Barnett formula, which calculates the annual change in the Block Grant, which is The Scottish Government’s core source of funding. Annual changes in this funding, or ‘Barnett consequentials’, reflect changes in UK Government department spending and can be spent on any devolved services by the Scottish Government.
MPs may also examine how transparent the UK Government is about its funding decisions and approaches to bypassing the formula to provide additional funding, as well as exploring potential routes to formalise this process.
Members could examine the borrowing limits and conditions of the wider fiscal framework between the two Governments and views on the prospect of changing these conditions.
Witnesses at 09:30am:
- David Phillips, Associate Director at Institute for Fiscal Studies
- Claire Murdoch, Head of Fiscal Sustainability and Public Funding at Scottish Fiscal Commission
- Dr João Sousa, Senior Knowledge Exchange Fellow and Deputy Director at Fraser of Allander Institute
- The financing of the Scottish Government
- Wednesday 29 January, 9.30am, Committee Room 15
- Watch live on parliamentlive.tv
The Edinburgh Reporter February issue
Our February issue has gone to press and will be sent out to our subscribers very soon. If you would like to join them then sign up here or click on the image below.
And our 6,000 copies will be distributed to our various stockists from 1 February. Look out for a copy – and if you can’t find them we are planning to update our stockists list very soon too.
For now here is the January issue just one more time.
Gaelic events this week
A ceilidh dance, a walking tour and a writing workshop are among the line-up of fringe events supporting this year’s John MacLeod Memorial Lecture, named after a notable figure in the Gaelic Community. Events begin on Thursday and continue until Sunday.
The Memorial Lecture will open the programme on Thursday 30 January and will be presented by Gaelic singer and musician Duncan MacLeod. The lecture, which will be delivered in Gaelic with simultaneous interpretation to English, will explore what language decay tells us about Gaelic.
A recent graduate of the University of Edinburgh’s Celtic and Linguistics MA programme, Duncan and his younger sister Rona have formed a musical duo and frequently compete at Scotland’s premier Gaelic festival, the Royal National Mòd.
The expanded programme will take place between Thursday 30 and Sunday 2 February 2024.
Events are open to all – from Gaelic enthusiasts, to those looking to gain more of an understanding of Gaelic language and culture.
Edinburgh Charity Fashion Show 2025
Tickets are on sale now for Mirror Mirror at Mansfield Traquair on 22 March which will raise funds for The Rock Trust.
Heating Edinburgh in the 2030s
The Clean Heat Edinburgh Forum has organised an event this Monday all about community heating.
“How to keep Edinburgh warm AND reduce fossil fuel emissions? How can you / your community get involved in the decisions about who benefits?“