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Falling North Sea revenue leads to an increase in the deficit on Scotland’s net fiscal balance, while onshore performance improves.

The deficit on Scotland’s net fiscal balance has increased since last year, driven by falling North Sea revenue, which offset strong growth in income tax and onshore corporation tax. Spending has increased, driven by additional expenditure on health and social protection. Spending on reserved debt interest has fallen slightly and cost of living support payments have mostly ended.

Net fiscal balance 2023-24

This is the difference between total revenue and total public sector expenditure including capital investment. The net fiscal balance:

• Was a deficit of 10.4% of GDP (£22.7 billion)
• When excluding the North Sea, was a deficit of 13.2% of GDP (£26.6 billion)
• For the UK, was a deficit of 4.5% of GDP

Total public sector revenue 2023-24

• Scottish public sector revenue was estimated as £88.5 billion (8.1% of UK revenue). Of this, £4 billion was North Sea revenue. Scottish non-North Sea revenue was £84.6 billion (7.8% of UK revenue).
• Non-North Sea revenue increased by £5.7 billion in 2023-24 – an increase of 7.2%, with income tax and onshore corporation tax growing strongly.
• Scotland’s illustrative geographical share of North Sea revenue was £4 billion in 2023-24, down from £7.9 billion in 2022-23, following falls in energy prices and production.

Total public sector expenditure 2023-24

• Total expenditure for Scotland by the Scottish Government, UK Government and all other parts of the public sector was £111.2 billion. Spending increased by £6.3 billion (6.0%), reflecting increases in spending on health and social protection.

Background

Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland 2023-24

The figures released today were produced in accordance with professional standards set out in the Code of Practice for Statistics.

The aim of GERS is to enhance public understanding of fiscal issues in Scotland. The primary objective is to estimate a set of public sector accounts for Scotland through detailed analysis of official UK and Scottish Government finance statistics. The report is designed to allow users to understand and analyse Scotland’s fiscal position under different scenarios within the current constitutional framework.

GERS is an Accredited Official Statistics publication, which means that it is produced independently of Scottish Ministers and has been assessed by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR), the regulatory arm of the UK Statistics Authority, to ensure that it meets that standards set out in the Code of Practice for Statistics. This means the statistics have been found to meet user needs, to be methodologically sound, explained well and produced free of political interference.

More information on the standards of official statistics in Scotland can be accessed on the Scottish Government website.