Finance Secretary Derek Mackay insisted last night that the Scottish Government had “led the way” on radical redesigns of services to meet the challenges faced by councils.
The SNP minister spoke out as opposition parties demanded action from the Holyrood administration after warnings were issued in a new Accounts Commission report.
Scottish Conservative local government spokesman Alexander Stewart said: “This report confirms that the financial outlook for councils is considerably bleak.
“With an ageing and increasing population, councils are only going to come under more pressure to deliver. It’s time the SNP took that on board and provided a decent financial settlement for them.”
Labour’s Monica Lennon said: “This expert report exposes the huge scale of SNP cuts to councils and the impact that has had on the poorest communities never mind the challenges that lie ahead in meeting the needs of our ageing population.
“It kills the myth pedalled by Derek Mackay that local government has had a fair deal from the Scottish Government.”
But Mr Mackay said: “The 9% reduction in the local government funding settlement is of the same level as the real terms cuts to Scotland’s resource budget from the UK Government.
“Despite these cuts to the Scottish Government’s budget we have treated local government fairly and in 2018-19 councils will receive a £10.7billion funding settlement, providing a real terms boost spending.
“In the current financial year almost half a billion pounds of frontline NHS spending will be invested in social care services and integration.
“As the demand on health and social care services increase we recognise that delivering the current levels of services in the same way as has been done in the past is not a sustainable option.
“That is why Scotland has led the way in with radical service redesign and the integration of health and social care to meet these challenges.”
