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:I will let officials talk to the regulations that are coming forward. However, clearly, some regulations relate to the original act, and others may follow from the amendment bill that is going through at the moment.

:When it comes to the amendment bill, there will be further regulations, potentially, but those will come in the next session of the Parliament.

In terms of that year-end adjustment number, we always have to make an assessment of what the potential impact is. Those sound like big numbers, but they are in the context of a £60 billion-plus Scottish budget. We need to make our final decisions on borrowing in the middle of March, so there is still scope for changes at that point. Historically, there have been changes—of more than £100 million on occasion—as a consequence of year-end audit adjustments.

We need to keep some money for that and for anything that happens in the final few weeks of the financial year. However, as I said, nothing is lost there, because anything that is still there carries forward into the following financial year.

That is one possible driver. We work hard to make sure that people are claiming the benefit, but underclaiming could be an issue. However, assuming that all else is equal, it would indicate that fewer people are in need of the benefit, which, as you say, would be a positive thing.

Are you asking why it is not a round number?

Good morning.

As we approach the end of the financial year, the Scottish Government is, once again, on track to balance its budget. That demonstrates our robust in-year financial management practices. The spring budget revision allocates £600 million of additional funding to support our vital public services. More than £100 million is provided to the health service, while the economy and Gaelic, housing, transport, and education and skills portfolios all receive additional funding to support services.

In line with our robust practices, we continue to set aside contingency funding, which is required annually, to support any year-end audit adjustments as well as to guard against any final changes in 2025-26 forecasts. Those funding additions are offset by a reduction in social security benefit expenditure, £100 million of forecast European structural funds income and slippage in capital projects, as well as a £350 million technical adjustment relating to police and fire pensions.

The funding position has also been updated to reflect the latest forecasts and figures. Planned capital borrowing and ScotWind utilisation have been revised down and align to the position that the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government set out in the 2026-27 Scottish budget. There remain wider financial challenges that have required to be navigated in recent years. As part of the 2025-26 budget, we had to consider carefully how best to support the 2026-27 budget, with a £150 million underspend assumption.

11:00

The technical, Whitehall and internal transfers are presented in the document in the usual way. The supporting document to the spring budget revision and the finance update prepared by my officials provide further background on the net changes as well as updates on information that was requested by the committee.

I am happy to answer any questions that the committee may have.

I have a couple of points to make. First, these numbers originally come from the Scottish Fiscal Commission, which makes its assessment of what we need to put in the budget. That is the right way to do it—there is the independent assessment, and then we work within that.

Secondly, the numbers are big, but, in the context of the whole social security budget, it is about 3 per cent. However, you are right that, in relation to that specific benefit, it is a significant number in absolute terms, and, as you say, it is demand led. I am sure that there are many and various factors that drive that demand, and Social Security Scotland will respond to the applications and the demand side of the process.

On your comment about being stricter, it is important to recognise that certain numbers are quoted in this regard—it is not my portfolio, so I am not across all the detail of it—but a lot of the original assessment was based on individuals who were transferred from the UK system, who had already been through various checks. Therefore, when people talk about a very small number being changed following on from that, it is important to recognise that those individuals had already been through the UK process.

Social Security Scotland prides itself on its dignity and fairness approach, but I am conscious that it is looking after public money, so all of that needs to be treated in the round.

I do not have all the detail on that, but I can get back to you if there are specifics that you want more information on. Clearly, there will be big projects in there, and for capital projects you make the projection of what you will spend and then, when you are in year, a period of time later, there will be variables that could affect that projection.

There will be things that will speed up and things that will slow down. There will always be movement, and, again, that is in the context of a significant capital budget overall.

There are a number of parts to that. For a start, there is extensive engagement with investors, led by the DFM, and I have given examples of how that is continuing apace. There is also the investment portal, where specific projects are identified, and obviously that is publicly available.

At the end of the day, we might want something done, but that does not necessarily mean that that is where investors want to put their money, and marrying those things up is a key part of the process. In any case, this is not free money that we are talking about—it comes at a cost. Yes, you can increase the amount of money that you have for capital investment in the here and now but, depending on how the deal is designed, there will be a payment to make in order to pay back that investment, and that might or might not make sense as we move into the future.

Follow the rules in that regard.