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In June 2023, we published a blog on the trends in public funding on culture.  This showed a long-term trend of reducing real terms spend on culture in some areas of Scottish Government funding and local government.  It also highlighted some of the cost pressures facing the sector.

Since 2023, the Scottish Government has committed to a significant increase in funding.  This blog will look at where that additional money is going, the policy developments which sit alongside this new money, and how outcomes are measured.

£100 million of new money

In December 2023, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government, Shona Robison MSP, confirmed the Scottish Government commitment of “investing at least £100 million more in the arts and culture by 2028-29.”  The initial announcement of additional funding had been made at the SNP party conference in October 2023.

In his letter to the Committee in December 2024, the Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture, Angus Robertson MSP, provided the following update on the progress of this funding commitment:

The Government has clearly demonstrated its confidence in, and commitment to, the sector by proving a further £34 million in 2025/26 taking the uplifts to date to £50 million a year – halfway to the intended £100 million more annually by 2028/29 with an aim for a further £20 million in 2026/2027 subject to the usual Parliamentary procedures.

In a news release in December 2024, he described the additional £34 million budgeted for 2025-26 as “game-changing”.

Where has the extra funding gone so far?

2024-25

The Government states that the 2024-25 budget included an uplift of £15.8 million compared to the previous year.  The Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture, told Parliament in January 2024:

I recognise that the additional £15.8 million of funding next year will not rectify years of standstill funding. That is only the starting point of a journey of three phases—sustain, develop and innovate—all of which are important.

It was not obvious from the published budget documents for 2024-25 where this money was allocated.  The table below was provided by the Scottish Government and shows how most of the £15.8 million was broken down.

Area of spend	Increase in 2024-25 (£m)
Creative Scotland “compensation for 2023/2024”
Creative Scotland additional funding
National Performing Companies
National Collections
V&A Dundee

This additional funding was mainly provided to Creative Scotland.  In 2023, there was a great deal of discussion over £6.6 million which was not included in Creative Scotland’s budget for 2023-24 initially. The First Minister announced in the Stage 3 Budget debate that this would be reinstated in-year, but this decision was later reversed.  Whether one includes the £6.6 million in the baseline would affect the size of the increase between 2023-24 and 2024-25 – the Scottish Government does not.  The majority of the additional funding of Creative Scotland in 2024-25 was around this £6.6 million.  It was “reinstated” in 2024-25 and a further £6.6 million was provided to “reimburse Creative Scotland” which had used reserves to cover this expected funding in 2023-24.

2025-26

£20 million of the additional £34.9 million in the 2025-26 Budget will be to support Creative Scotland’s multi-year funding stream.  That is, grants to arts and culture organisations which recur over several years.

The table below was provided by the Scottish Government and shows how the additional money in 2025-26 will be allocated.

Area of spend	Increase in 2025-26 (£m)
Creative Scotland multi-year Funding
Youth Music Initiative
Screen Scotland
National Collections
Other Arts
National Performing Companies

Policy developments

Providing additional funding to culture and the arts is broadly welcomed within that sector.  The Scottish Government aims to improve outcomes and it does this through the prism of the National Performance Framework (NPF) and sectoral strategic documents or agreements.  We will look at how outcomes are measured below.  The question remains open of what the Scottish Government would expect to see from the additional funding, and this might affect where the additional resource is directed.  

The 2020 Culture Strategy for Scotland is organised around three “ambitions”.  The ambition of Strengthening Culture is largely concerned with how policy can support the creation of culture through funding or in-kind support to the sector.  The ambition of Transforming through culture is concerned largely with recognising the value culture can have to supporting outcomes in other policy areas – for example, in supporting health, education, and tourism.  The ambition of Empowering Through Culture addresses participation and supporting culture at community levels.  

Since the announcement of an additional £100 million for culture and the arts, the Government has or will be undertaking a number of aspects of work.

The refreshed action plan

On 19 December 2023, after the announcement of additional funding to the culture and arts sectors, the Scottish Government published a refreshed action plan for the 2020 culture strategy.  The action plan is organised under four chapters and three of the chapters relate directly to the three ‘ambitions’ in the 2020 strategy. The action plan also includes a chapter on ‘Resilience’ and a summary of actions.  These actions tend to focus on policy-making processes rather than new policy initiatives.

On 20 June 2024, the Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture provided an update on the action plan in a letter to the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee.

Reviews of Creative Scotland and the support for the wider culture sector

On 4 September 2024, the First Minister, John Swinney MSP, announced Programme for Government 2024-25. The Programme included a number of commitments relating to the culture sector, including to:

Review the way the culture sector is supported, including a review of Creative Scotland as part of our commitment to ensuring excellence in Scotland’s public services. This will also help to ensure the distribution of additional funding in the most effective way possible.

There will shortly be two reviews.

• A wider review which will look at the existing support for the sector and explore new ways the Scottish Government grow the overall funding pot for culture and diversify funding streams. This review will also consider what action can be taken to help the sector to navigate current and future challenges and make the most of opportunities for collaborative working.  The Scottish Government will undertake this review.
• A separate but linked review of Creative Scotland which will be led by Dame Sue Bruce. 

The Scottish Government launched a short survey on 13 January 2025 to help inform the scope of both of these reviews.

Multi-Year funding by Creative Scotland

On 30 January 2025, Creative Scotland announced who would receive funding through its multi-year funding streams up to April 2028. 

Over the next three years, more than £200 million will be provided to 251 organisations, with an additional 13 organisations receiving £3.2 million in development funding. Organisations currently receiving regular funding will receive an average funding uplift of 34% in 2025/26, increasing to 54% from 2026/27. Creative Scotland reported that the portfolio now includes a significant number of community-focused organisations, and that it better represents Scotland’s geography and diversity.

In a news release, both Creative Scotland’s Chair, Robert Wilson, and Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture, Angus Robertson MSP, highlighted the importance of this funding in providing stability to the sector in Scotland.

How do we measure outcomes?

The National Outcome for Culture in the National Performance Framework (NPF) is:

We are creative and our vibrant and diverse cultures are expressed and widely enjoyed.

The NPF includes four indicators under Culture.  These are:

• attendance at cultural events or places of culture
• participation in a cultural activity
• growth in the arts, culture and creative economy
• people working in arts, culture and creative industries.

Attendance and participation

The indicators under attendance and participation are taken from the Scottish Household Survey (SHS).  The results of the 2023 SHS have been published recently, although, at the time of writing, the NPF has not been updated.  The results of the 2022 and 2023 surveys are not directly comparable to SHS results for 2021 and 2020 telephone surveys. Those years have been removed from the analysis.

The percentage of people who attended cultural events in 2023 was lower than before the pandemic.  Overall, participation appears to have returned to close to pre-pandemic levels. The interactive table below allows you to explore the data from the SHS

Growth and employment

Data on the estimated GVA of the Creative Industries (including Digital) is taken from the Scottish Government’s Industry statistics.  The Chart below shows the growth of the Creative industries sector in the past ten years.

Since 2022, growth in this sector has fluctuated. A paper on the Creative industries by the Office of the Chief Economic Adviser commented:

The latest GDP data show that output in the Creative Industries sector decreased by 1.4% across the most recent quarter, with output across the economy as a whole increasing by 0.3%. Compared with the same quarter in the previous year, output in this sector decreased by 0.6%, with output across the economy as a whole increasing by 0.9%, comparing Q3 2024 to Q3 2023.

The employment measure in the NPF is based on labour market surveys undertaken by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).  The ONS has been experiencing difficulties in obtaining the necessary sample for some statistics. The indicator on the NPF has not been updated since July 2023.  Some data and analysis on employment in the sector was included in the paper by the Office of the Chief Economic Adviser, quoted above. It stated:

Employment in the Creative Industries sector stood at 90,000 in 2023, accounting for 3.4% of employment in Scotland and 5.4% of employment in Creative Industries across Great Britain. Employment in this sector increased by 2.3% over the latest year in Scotland.  … In 2023, employment in the Creative Industries sector was highest in Glasgow City (25,065) and City of Edinburgh (23,065), which comprised 27.9% and 25.6% of employment in this sector respectively.

Conclusion

The increases in funding will represent a significant increase in resource for the arts and culture sectors.  Currently the majority of this funding has gone to Creative Scotland.

What remains unclear is how the additional funding in future years will be distributed, how the additional money will support the aims of the Culture Strategy, and how the additional funding is expected to improve outcomes. One would hope that the policy work and reviews in the sector will provide clarity on these issues.

Ned Sharratt
SPICe Research