Finance: Interministerial Standing Committee – 25 January 2024
Updated 21 March 2024
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The Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Shona Robison MSP (Scottish Government) chaired a meeting of the Finance: Interministerial Standing Committee (F:ISC) on 25 January in Edinburgh. The meeting was attended by the Rt Hon Laura Trott MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury (UK Government) and Rebecca Evans MS, Minister for Finance and Local Government (Welsh Government). Officials from the Northern Ireland Executive attended virtually in a listening capacity.
All ministers welcomed the opportunity to meet in person to discuss the current economic context and public spending pressures, whilst continuing to build constructive and positive relationships across all governments.
Ministers discussed their economic and fiscal priorities following the UK Autumn Statement and in advance of the upcoming UK Spring Budget. The Scottish Government and Welsh Government also provided updates on their budgets for 2024-25, which had been published in December.
Ministers went on to discuss action to tackle poverty in an economic and fiscal context. This included discussion of measures contained in the Scottish and Welsh budgets, as well as consideration of the role that reserved policy levers can play in tackling poverty.