2010/11 Budget - more money for Councils

Some disclaimers to start with:

• this post is about the 2010/11 Local Government budget in Scotland
• it's not about any other aspect of the Scottish Budget
• and it's not about any other (future) years
• and it's based on the figures released a few weeks ago

OK - now put all the political shouting about the overall Scottish Budget to one side and here are the unquestionable facts for the forthcoming financial year as regards Local Government:

• the 2010/11 Scottish Local Government budget is going UP from £9,589.9million last year to £9,809.0million this year (see first table here)
• that's an increase of £219.1million in cash (nominal) terms
• in 'real' terms the 2010/11 figure relates to about £9,664.0million
• that's a 'real terms' increase of £74.1million (from the previous year) for Scottish Local Government
• so, Scottish Local Government is getting a 2.3% cash (nominal) increase
• and, Scottish Local Government is getting a 0.8% 'real terms' increase next year
• see table 1, on page 2, here for confirmation of these facts
• the figures here (as above) correlate to the official figures here, from the first bullet-point above

Yes - you've got it ... Scottish Local Government is getting MORE MONEY in real terms (not just cash terms) in 2010/11 as compared to 2009/10.

Remember, this post is not about future years - but the unquestionable facts above may well be worth remembering in the gathering political hysteria as we move towards setting our own Local Council Budget for 2010/11 in early February ...