Pre-Budget Scrutiny Consultation 2025-26

This blog post sets out the context for the Scottish Government Budget process and the Pre-Budget Scrutiny work of the Scottish Parliament’s Committees, as well as our approach and aims in responding to this period of consultation. 

Contextual Information:

  • In the lead up to the budget process, many Scottish Parliament Committees undertake pre-budget scrutiny. This process allows for views and evidence to be gathered, surfacing key issues for the Scottish Government’s attention in preparation for the upcoming budget.

    At the start of this parliamentary term, the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture (CEEAC) Committee agreed to take a cumulative approach to budget scrutiny, focusing on the culture spending portfolio.

    Last year, this work culminated in the Committee’s report, which concluded that the “perfect storm” had "not abated, with external and public funding pressures maintaining, and the culture sector remaining under significant financial strain and the risks to its future becoming more severe."

    Culture Counts submitted evidence to the report, as well as presenting evidence at the Committee's meeting in September 2023 and post-Budget in January 2024. In our evidence Culture Counts called for an increase to the budget for culture by £104mil in financial year 2024-25.

    There was then a series of events, detailed in our blog post Update on the last Two Weeks which included the reinstatement of the 10% cut to Creative Scotland, previously reversed in February 2023. Culture Counts again actively campaigned for this to be reinstated with colleagues from across the sector supporting the public petition led by Campaign for the Arts.

    In October the then First Minister, Humza Yousaf announced an increase in funding to arts and culture with a commitment to increase the budget by and additional £100mil by 2028-29,

    Cabinet Secretary Angus Robertson confirmed that this commitment was in direct response to Culture Counts ask for an additional £104 mil.

    Therefore, it is essential that we continue to engage as fully as possible with the process of parliamentary scrutiny through the committee’s work.

  • August/September 2024: Scottish Parliament committees gather evidence as part of their Pre-Budget scrutiny for 2025-26.

    November/December 2024: We anticipate that the Scottish Government will publish its draft budget for 2025-26. The bill then enters a phase of Parliamentary Scrutiny, where the Finance Committee may propose changes to the budget.

    January/February 2025: The budget bill will be laid before parliament, setting out in detail Ministers' spending plans for the following year and accounting for comments made in the previous stage.

    The bill must pass through three stages in Parliament before becoming law: Stage 1 is a debate in the Parliament, Stage 2 is an evidence session with the Minister for Finance at the Finance Committee and Stage 3 is a further debate in the Parliament. Only Ministers may propose amendments during this process.

Gathering evidence:

  • Providing up to date, robust and compelling evidence is an essential part of the Pre-Budget parliamentary scrutiny process and will help to provide an accurate picture of the current status of the sector.

    In order to best inform the views and needs of the sector Culture Counts is inviting our members to complete a survey which will be emailed to members.

    We are not consulting on every question and the questions in our survey do not just repeat the questions in each Committee's consultation, but instead we want to gather additional and relevant evidence to support our submission. We have for example decided not to gather new evidence on the Multi-Year funding programme as this would be a considerable exercise and we know others have already completed this work and we may include their findings.

    We know the culture sector is significantly “over-consulted” and fatigued from form filling and have sought to design this survey with this in mind.

    All the questions contained in the survey are optional. Please feel free to provide as little or as much information as you like. Similarly, if relevant information exists elsewhere – such as in a funding evaluation document or existing research, please forward this on to us, don’t worry about re-formatting to fit the form of this survey.

    All evidence will be included anonymously and will not be attributed in our response and the identity of respondents will be held in strictest confidence.

    This survey is primarily for our Core Members and their wider stakeholders to enable Culture Counts to provide a collated overview – please do share this survey as appropriate.

  • In previous years Culture Counts has primarily provided evidence to the Pre-Budget consultation work carried out by the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee.

    This year we have identified three Committees that are gathering evidence ahead of the 2025-26 budget that we think the culture sector should be providing evidence to:

    Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee - Budget Scrutiny 2025-26: Funding for Culture

    Areas of Focus

    The Committee is interested in priorities for the £100mil investment, the Culture Strategy Action Plan, Creative Scotland's Multi-Year Funding process and progress on Fair Work.

    Committee Questions

    1. How should planned budget increases for the culture portfolio in Budget 2025-26 be prioritised to support improved cultural outcomes

    2. To what extent does the Culture Strategy Action Plan deliver the Committee’s recommendation that it should “provide a clear and strategic sense of how the Scottish Government is working to ensure a more sustainable future for the sector”? 

    3. How should the Culture Strategy Action Plan inform the budgetary decisions of the Scottish Government, and the priorities and spending decisions of other partners in the culture sector?

    4. What progress has been made in the last 12 months on taking forward innovative funding solutions?

    5. How successful has the process of implementing Creative Scotland’s Multi-Year Funding Programme been thus far in delivering longer-term clarity and confidence for the culture sector

    6. What progress has been made in delivering fair work across the culture sector and what should be the priorities for further progress

      Finance and Public Administration Committee - Pre-Budget Scrutiny 2025-26: Managing Scotland’s Public Finances: A Strategic Approach

      Areas of Focus

      The area of the Finance Committee's consultation that we think is of most relevant to the culture sector is around Public Service Reform. The Committee are seeking evidence on the progress made in relation to the Scottish Government’s 10- year public service reform programme

      Social Justice and Social Security Committee - Budget scrutiny 2025-26 - Third sector funding principles

      Areas of Focus

      In response to concerns about funding challenges faced by the ‘third sector’ the Committee wants to examine how the Scottish Government’s approach to fair and efficient funding can contribute to the continued effectiveness of the third sector.

Key issues and opportunities in the cultural landscape:

Below is a summary of some of the key issues relevant to this evidence submission:

  • Organisations currently in receipt of regular funding from Creative Scotland face uncertainty as the organisation moved to its new, Multi-Year Funding programme, replacing its Regular Fund, Open Fund and Targeted Fund from 2025 onwards.

    Through these funds, Creative Scotland currently supports around 350 organisations on a year-on-year basis.

    Applications to the Multi-Year Funding programme were received from 281 cultural organisations with a total ask of £87.5m per year were received at Stage Two. This compares to the 285 organisations which were successful at Stage One of the process, with an annual financial ask was £87.4m. The current available budget stands at around £40 million, leaving huge uncertainty for cultural organisations awaiting these vital decisions.

    Creative Scotland have acknowledged the impact of pressures outlined above and indicated that they intend to fund recipients of the new fund on a sustainable basis.

    However, they have also indicated that due to standstill budgets and rising costs for organisations, that they anticipate funding a smaller number of organisations, making it inevitable that some of those organisations currently supported, and some new applicants, will not receive funding under the new framework.

    The decisions that Creative Scotland will be taking at the end of October on the Multi Year Funding Programme are likely to have significant repercussions for Scotland’s cultural landscape.

    Despite the current Scottish Government pledging in their 2021 Party Manifesto to agree 3-year funding settlements for Scottish Government core funded cultural organisations, this has not come to fruition and Creative Scotland’s budget is currently only confirmed to March 2025. 

    The current available budget situation leaves huge uncertainty for cultural organisations awaiting these vital decisions. We welcomed ministers’ commitment to invest at least £100 million more annually in arts and culture by 2028-29, but bringing more of this funding forward now and the Scottish Government and Creative Scotland aligning their planning in October, would enable strategic planning and vital investment for Creative Scotland, the sector it supports and the communities they serve across Scotland, when it is most urgently needed.

  • We welcomed the former First Minister’s commitment in October 2023 to invest an additional £100 million by 2028-29 to culture, and a further £25 million in 2025-26.

    However, the sector needs clarity on how this funding will be prioritised and what share may be made available to support Creative Scotland's Multi-Year funding programme decisions in October.

    We urge Scottish Government to make as much of this funding available now, when it is most urgently needed.

  • Recent areas of Policy Development over the past year:

    At the last election, the current Scottish Government’s manifesto recognised the value of culture and contained two key commitments:

    1) To agree 3-year funding settlements for Scottish Government core funded cultural organisations. (This has not come to fruition and therefore Creative Scotland’s budget is currently only confirmed to March 2025.)

    2) To establish a “Percentage for the Arts” scheme which will create a requirement for a percentage of the overall cost of a construction project for new public buildings, places, or spaces to be spent on community art commissions. (The manifesto estimates that this would raise £150million per year once fully up and running).

    The full SNP manifesto for Culture and Creativity can be found here

    Subsequent policy development, such as the International Culture Strategy and Culture Strategy Action Plan Refresh focused on the creation of new policies without additional resource as yet being identified. With the sector already so lean, there is a risk that these policies will not have the desired impact.

  • Scotland’s overall economic picture is extremely challenging. High inflation and rising interest rates affect all aspects of the economy and daily life. Inflation is acutely impacting the culture sector.

    In times of low inflation, the effect of standstill in investment in many parts of the Culture Portfolio may not have been as noticeable. However, as the real terms value of Government investment sharply decreases, these long-term budget pressures are becoming more and more acute. Recent analysis by the Scottish Parliament’s Information Centre demonstrates those trends.

  • Recent research conducted on behalf of business energy supplier Uswitch found:

    • A quarter of music and theatre venues (27%) are concerned they may need to close down, as more than a third (35%) of business expenses go towards energy bills.

    • Three in five (60%) music venues say that energy bills are their top concern for the next year, above inflation rates and staff costs.

  • Over the last few years, the Committee’s reports have reflected reduced income generation due to challenges in recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic compounded by the cost-of-living crisis.

    The Audience Agency’s Spring 2023 Cultural Participation Monitor found:

    • Respondents reported that overall, they are attending arts and culture less than before the pandemic

    • Over 60% of respondents citing cost-of-living as slashing their ability to attend culture events, with even higher numbers expecting this to still be the case in 6-24 months' time.

  • Investment in culture by Local Governments is severely constrained. In the run up to last year’s budget, COSLA reported:

    If current spending plans don’t change and culture and sport services take their ‘fair share’ of the financial pressures for 2023/24, they could have to find savings of around £40m – that equates to:

    1,400 fewer library assistants

    40% reduction in library provision

    90% of spend on museums and galleries

    20% of spend on sports facilities

  • Freelancers are facing a number of challenges including a reduction in paid work opportunities.

    Freelancers Make Theatre Work and University of Essex’s 2023 Big Freelancer Report found:

    Financial uncertainty and underpayment were the most widely reported concerns across all career stages, regions, and sectors.

    A skills shortage in specific roles and sectors is having an impact on workplace fairness, safety, and workloads.

    The Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre Good Work Review found that:

    No Creative sub-sector performs well across all measures of good work.

    Particular challenges included the need to work for free to get a foothold into the industry; the toll of long hours in challenging work environments; a lack of agency in influencing decisions that impact working life; and a lack of time and money to participate in training that would upgrade skills and enable career progression.

  • We have consistently called for investment in culture to be increased to 1% in line with the 2019 CEAC report Putting Artists in the Picture which recommended that culture should establish a baseline target for national arts and culture funding above 1% of the Scottish Government’s overall budget, supported, on a cross-portfolio basis, in line with the recommendation of the Cultural Commission.

    Our long-term goal continues to aim for 1% of overall Scottish Government expenditure towards culture. This will bring us closer to the levels of investment across Europe, where the average is 1.5%.

  • Cross policy applications of culture – i.e. in health, education, social justice and climate are frequently discussed by both sector and Government and cited as having widespread potential benefit, as well as being a new potential source of investment.

    There is a need to identify ways to improve cross-policy connections and working and to access and secure cross-portfolio funding.

  • The culture sector’s operating context has contained significant and rapidly developing issues since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Three years on, we know anecdotally that the continuing and evolving pressures and uncertainties have had significant impacts on culture workers: Health, mental health, wellbeing, and resilience.

    Similarly, widespread, and evolving challenges may have impacted confidence in the sector: Among workforce, stakeholders such as funders and partners, and audiences.

  • The Scottish Government and Creative Scotland are committed to progressing equalities, fair work and sustainability. Further implementation of these may be hindered by challenging financial circumstances – i.e:

    Lack of additional budget to provide wage rises in line with required fair work commitments and inflation, or a contraction in opportunity in order to provide wage rises.

    Lower appetite for risk in the development and commissioning of new work.

    Contraction in opportunity increasing barriers to entry or progression for those from under-represented backgrounds or with protected characteristics.

    Increased time and cash cost of green operations/activity – i.e. slow touring, retrofitting etc.

Evidence

It is key that our submission is informed by relevant and credible evidence. Below we’ve included some examples of sources we may draw from. If you are aware of other research or have your own evidence to share please get in touch.

Policy PositionsJoseph PeachScottish Government, Scottish Parliament