Gil questions finance secretary on local government capital spending

​​GIL Paterson MSP has questined the Scottish finance secretary Derek Mackay MSP during General Questions session at the Scottish Parliament on January 12.

Local Government (Capital Budget)

6. Gil Paterson (Clydebank and Milngavie) (SNP): 
To ask the Scottish Government what allocation of its budget has been given to local government for capital spending. (S5O-00544)

The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Constitution (Derek Mackay): 
I can confirm that the total local government capital funding allocation for 2017-18 will amount to £756.5 million. That represents an increase of almost £150 million or nearly 25 per cent compared with 2016-17.

Gil Paterson: 
Recent reports have said that schools down south that were built using the private finance initiative and public-private partnerships are being ripped off through the costs of teaching supplies as those supplies form part of the PFI/PPP agreement. Are any schools in Scotland that were built using PFI/PPP in a similar position? If so, what is the cost?

Derek Mackay: 
I can confirm that none of the standard contracts that were previously used for schools PFI/PPP deals included the cost of school teaching supplies.

Derek Mackay MSP