The Finance and Public Administration Committee has the lead role in scrutinising the Scottish Government’s Budget Bill each year.
Parliamentary scrutiny of the Budget aims to:
The Budget Bill for 2026-27 was introduced on 15 January 2026:
The Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) has produced a briefing on the Scottish Budget 2026-27:
The Budget Bill is how the Parliament agrees public spending in Scotland. A Budget Bill is introduced in the Parliament every year.
This budget is for the financial year 2026-27.
The schedules of the Bill describe what money in the budget can be spent on and the maximum amounts that can be spent.
The Budget Bill follows a slightly different process to other Bills.
Find out more about the Scottish Budget Bill process
Before the Bill was introduced, committees published pre-budget reports which aimed to influence the content of the Bill itself.
You can read about the Committee’s own pre-budget scrutiny, including its report:
Pre-Budget Scrutiny 2026-27: Responding to Long-Term Fiscal Pressures
The following submissions were received for the meeting on 20 January 2026:
Written submission from Professor David Heald (208KB, pdf) posted 16 January 2026
Written submission from Professor David Bell (154KB, pdf) posted 16 January 2026
The Committee undertook budget scrutiny at the following meetings:
The Committee has sent and received the following correspondence during the inquiry:
Letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government to the Convener, 26 January 2026
Letter from the Chair of the Scottish Fiscal Commission to the Convener, 13 January 2026
Letter from the Auditor General for Scotland to the Convener, 12 January 2026
Letter from the Presiding Officer to the Convener, 11 December 2025