The Scotland Act 2012 (Commencement No. 4) Order 2014

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

Article 2 of this Order commences section 32 of the Scotland Act 2012 (c.11) (the “2012 Act”) on 12th December 2014. This section amends sections 66 and 67 of the Scotland Act 1998 (c.46) to revise the circumstances under which the Scottish Ministers may borrow and set out the main controls and limits on such borrowing. These amendments enable the Scottish Ministers to borrow - subject to HM Treasury’s controls and limits - for the following purposes:

(a) to meet a ‘temporary excess of sums paid out of the Scottish Consolidated Fund (SCF) over the sums paid into the fund’ – this means that the Scottish Government can borrow to manage excessive in-year volatility of receipts, where actual income differs greatly from the forecast receipts for that month;

(b) to provide a working balance to the SCF, i.e. enough balance to ensure cash-flow;

(c) to meet the differences between forecast and outturn receipts for devolved taxes or from income tax charged by virtue of a Scottish rate resolution; and

(d) to fund capital expenditure.