ARGYLL and Bute Council could receive around £5 million extra funding from the Scottish Government, a local authority officer has said.
Kirsty Flanagan was speaking after additional funding for local government was confirmed by finance secretary Shona Robison in the Scottish Government’s budget.
But Ms Flanagan also warned “the devil is in the detail”, although she added that the financial outlook for the council could be better than was forecast.
She was speaking at a meeting of the council’s policy and resources committee on Thursday, December 5.
Ms Flanagan said: “We have not got our individual allocations and do not expect them until next Thursday, but there are some positives to come from the budget announcement.
“You may have heard there is £1 billion more funding for local government. Some of it comes with conditions attached.
“There appears to be £289m of additional funding coming with no strings attached, so that is very welcome, but sometimes the devil is in the detail.
“That would equate to around £5m additional funding for us, and we were estimated to have a reduction, so if there is an increase that will be helpful.
“There is also good news on the ferry specific grant. Last year we got no increase and are currently overspending to continue with our own ferry service.
“But we put in a request to get it increased from £1.8m to £2.8m and that has now been confirmed.”
Ms Flanagan added: “There are some things like the floor adjustment and public sector pay. There has also been some talk about national insurance.
“The Scottish Government will not know the funding for that, but they believe it will not be fully funded by the UK Government.
“We need to consider that, but overall, it is a more positive position than what everybody was thinking.”
