Abstract:
Public services play an important role in supporting households' well-being and their members' life chances. This is especially true for low- and middle-income households, for whom the in-kind services received represent a larger share of overall consumption and for whom equivalent private services may be prohibitively expensive. Most public service spending in Scotland - including the vast majority of what is spent on health, education, social care, transport, public order and safety, environmental and rural affairs and housing - is devolved to the Scottish Government and Scottish local authorities. But some - such as a significant share of research funding - is reserved to the UK government. Spending on public services - both devolved and reserved - was 22% higher per person in Scotland than in England in 2024-25, while benefit spending was 12% higher per person. But how is this higher spending allocated across different services? How have these allocations changed over time? What are the trade-offs between services in future? And how do a range of headline indicators of public service outcomes vary between Scotland and the rest of Great Britain?
