FOI/202300363470 · FOI · unclear
Third Sector 2022-23 Budget information: FOI release
Information requested
If the Scottish Government has no easily retrievable record of how a £25m+ line item (see budget except below) has been spent, then proper financial controls simply don’t exist. I find it very hard to believe that the civil service would have allowed this to happen.
Response
Below is a table which shows the breakdown of organisations and the funding they received in 2022-23 from the Third Sector Budget line in the published Scottish Budget.
To be clear that this is funding only provided by the Third Sector Unit, from the Third Sector Budget line. It does not include all the funding that the Scottish Government gives to third sector organisations. Each Scottish Government policy area provide their own funding from their own portfolio budget line and someof this funding will be used to fund third sector organisations, or third sector intermediaries to disburse to other third sector organisations, based on the policy requirements of individual portfolios.
The lines highlighted in bold are specific funding where funds are given to the intermediary which is then disbursed further through a Fund, to other third sector organisations. The line for Social Investment Scotland – Community Sustainability Fund is a loan fund, which provides loan funding to third sector organisations. Again note that this only includes the intermediary funds that are provided by the Third Sector budget. It does not include funds managed by other policy areas across Scottish Government that will also disburse funding to third sector organisations.
In addition it should be noted that the published budget includes Total Operating Costs, which are all the core staff and associated operating costs, such as accommodation, IT, legal services, and HR.
I have also attached a pie chart which shows how the third sector budget is split between our main areas of spend: Social Enterprise, Engaging the Sector, Volunteering and Third Sector Interfaces.
Organisation 22-23 Amount (millions) Resource Budget Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations £1.065 Association of Chief Officers of Scottish Voluntary Organisations £0.270 Development Trust Association Scotland £0.323 Scottish Community Alliance £0.100 Evaluation Support Scotland £0.156 Chartered Institute of Fundraising £0.113 Scottish Community Development Centre £0.184 Volunteer Scotland £0.800 Volunteering Matters £0.150 Society of Antiquaries of Scotland £0.100 Third Sector Interfaces (TSI) (32 TSI's - one in each Local Authority area) £8.155 Edinburgh Voluntary Organisations’ Council £0.054 Social Enterprise Scotland £0.589 Social Enterprise Network Scotland £0.075 Firstport £0.240 Community Enterprise £0.430 School for Social Entrepreneurs £0.060 Social Enterprise Academy £1.088 Challenges Worldwide £0.170 Social Enterprise World Forum £0.060 Social Investment Scotland £0.195 Scottish Community Finance Ltd £0.085 Council of Ethnic Minority Voluntary Sector Organisations £0.078 Community Enterprise in Scotland £1.787 Projects under £50k £0.270 Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations - Community Capacity and Resilience Find £0.335 Development Trust Association Scotland - Community Capacity and Resilience Fund £0.300 Impact Funding Partners - Volunteering Support Fund £1.595 First Port - Social Entrepreneurs Fund £1.649 Financial Transactions Social Investment Scotland - Community Sustainability Fund £4.000
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