Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government will be providing local government in Scotland with over £9.7 billion in revenue funding in 2013-14. The vast majority of this funding, including any funding to support the voluntary sector will be provided by means of a block grant. It is the responsibility of each local authority to allocate the total financial resources available to it on the basis of local needs and priorities having first fulfilled its statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities including the Scottish Government’s key strategic objectives.

Full and early involvement of the third sector in the co-production of service design and planning is likely to lead to arrangements that are satisfactory to all parties and the role of the community planning partnership is key here. The Scottish Government also supports the third sector by supporting the network of local third sector interfaces and through Ready for Business and Just Enterprise.

The Scottish Government is implementing a shift to preventative spending, with specific funding of £500 million over the three year period to 2014-15 to encourage joint working across the public sector in adult social care, early years and tackling re-offending. The funding will support a transition across public services away from dealing with the symptoms of disadvantage and inequality towards tackling their root causes. The third sector has a crucial role to play in delivery, because of its specialist expertise, its ability to engage with vulnerable groups and its flexible and innovative approach. We are working across Government and with the third sector and the public sector to ensure that the role of the third sector in preventative spending can be maximised.