A pre-election Scottish Budget

The upcoming Scottish elections in May loomed large over the draft Budget speech in parliament last week.

Finance Secretary Shona Robison set out the SNP Government’s spending priorities with a narrative that her party was easing cost of living pressures on families.

There were increases to the Scottish Child Payment and changes to the bottom income tax thresholds, more wraparound childcare as well as eye-catching pledges for a ‘mansion tax’ on homes valued about £1m and a new private jet tax.

As always, Soil Association Scotland is focused on what is happening in relation to food, farming and land use. On that front, the agricultural support budgets were maintained with flat settlements that amount to a ‘real terms’ reduction in value, but there were some positive commitments to help tackle the climate and nature challenge.

What’s in the detail?

There were no surprises when it came to the headline rates of farm support. The Basic Payment Scheme budget is maintained at £282m, as with greening at £142m and Less Favoured Area Support Scheme at £65m.

It will not escape the notice of farm businesses that these numbers are the same as last year, so in reality, this is a cut after accounting for inflation.

Elsewhere, Soil Association Scotland welcomed a £26million commitment to the Agricultural Transformation Fund and we will seek further details on exactly how that will be allocated.

Given the upsurge in applications for organic conversion and growing interest from farmers in climate and nature friendly farming, it is disappointing to see that the Agri Environment Climate Scheme (AECS) budget set at £25.6m – less than half of the £55m allocated to the scheme when it started in 2015.

Through alliances the Scottish Agroecology Partnership and Scottish Environment LINK, we have made the case for increased funding in this space, with specific proposals for low-density tree planting on farms and crofts. We will continue to push for this as the Budget Bill makes its way through the parliamentary process in the coming weeks.

Soil Association Scotland also welcomed the announcement of £1.3m in funding for skills in sustainable and regenerative farming. This appears to be the Scottish Government delivering on the recommendations of the Land Based Learning Review and our understanding is that this includes delivery of a ‘sustainable farming skills pipeline’ that reflects one of the central policy asks of the Scottish Agroecology Partnership. We await confirmation but this looks like very positive news.

Finally, the woodland grants budget (Forestry Grant Scheme) was increased to £58m, which comes some way to restoring the budget to its previous level before significant cuts were made down to £44m in 2024. Woodland creation targets remain at 12,000ha – still well short of the 18,000ha promised at the start of this parliament – while a target of 10,000ha has been set for peatland restoration this year with £28m of investment.

Investment in nature

The main item of interest in the ‘Climate Action and Energy’ section of the Budget is the £26m for the Nature Restoration Fund (NRF), helping towards the Biodiversity Strategy aims of halting nature loss by 2030.

Previous rounds have helped farmers and land managers implement nature-based solutions at scale. Scottish Environment LINK has noted in its initial response that it looks like there will be £93m in the NRF over the next three years, although that will be subject to decisions taken by the next government.

The budget for environment agencies such as Environmental Standards Scotland (ESS), SEPA and NatureScot has also largely been protected, with a slight uptick for ESS to £3.8m, which may reflect new responsibilities for oversight of the Biodiversity Strategy Delivery Plan.

School food

The Scottish Government has said it will “continue working with local government to expand provision” of free school meals to include children from families in receipt of Pension Credit, and those impacted by the increase in the Administrative Earnings Threshold. The Budget documents said these measures will enable “a further 5,500 pupils to access nutritious and healthy food, backed by investment of up to £3 million”.

There is also new funding for a ‘national breakfast club’ offer in all primary schools in Scotland, building on last year’s Bright Start Breakfast initiative aimed at children from disadvantaged backgrounds – leading to a “national offer” by 2027.

On Good Food Nation, it is very much as you were, with an ongoing commitment to support local authorities and health boards with Local Food Plans and fully establishing the Scottish Food Commission.

What happens next?

The first thing to note is that this is still a ‘draft’ Budget and there will be a parliamentary process to follow before it goes to a vote in the chamber.

However, according to media reports, Scottish Labour will not oppose the Budget, which means there won’t be the usual horse-trading that goes on at this time of year.

That will limit the scope for significant changes, as the minority SNP administration will not need to seek support from other parties to get the Budget plans over the line.

From then on, attention will very much shift to the election campaign, and manifesto pledges for the next parliamentary term.