The Economy and Fair Work Committee is undertaking pre-budget scrutiny ahead of the publication of the Scottish Government’s Budget for 2024-25.
In line with the recommendations of the Budget Process Review Group report, Scottish Parliament committees undertake pre-budget scrutiny in advance of the publication of the Scottish budget.
The purpose of pre-budget scrutiny is for Committees to provide comment to the Scottish Government, in the form of a letter or report, at least six weeks prior to the Scottish budget with the aim of influencing the budget when priorities are set.
To inform its pre-budget letter, the Committee took evidence from the enterprise agencies on 4 October 2023. Following the evidence session, Committee agreed to focus its pre-budget scrutiny on support for business, support for women’s enterprise and skills development and wrote to the Cabinet Secretary with its recommendations.
Following the publication of the budget in December 2023, the tourism and hospitality sectors have called for more support. The Committee heard evidence from Scottish Tourism Alliance, UKHospitality Scotland and Scottish Licenced Trade Association on 24 January 2024.
Written evidence from Scottish Tourism Alliance (502KB, pdf) posted 30 January 2024
Written evidence from UKHospitality Scotland (194KB, pdf) posted 30 January 2024
Written evidence from Scottish Licenced Trade Association (308KB, pdf) posted 30 January 2024
The inquiry was discussed at the following Committee meetings:
The Committee has sent and received the following correspondence during the inquiry:
Letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Net Zero and Energy, 27 February 2024
Letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy, 19 December 2023
Letter to the Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy, 25 October 2023