Holyrood: Scots ministers say the country is facing 'significantly restrained' public spending environment. Pic: © STV
A body set up to examine where cuts can be made in Scotland’s public spending will set out its findings on Thursday.
The Independent Budget Review Group's report was drawn up against a backdrop of a looming £42bn spending squeeze over the next 16 years.
The body, set up by the Scottish Government, is to consider the affordability of policies including universal free personal care and concessionary bus travel, as well as keeping Scottish Water in public hands.
Finance Secretary John Swinney said the report would help "inform public and Parliamentary debate about the challenges and choices we face as a result of the spending cuts set in train by the previous UK Government, and intensified by the current Westminster coalition".
He added: "It is clear that we face a significantly constrained public spending environment as a result of financial mismanagement by the previous Westminster Government, and a UK Budget that delivers cuts which are too deep and too quick."
Thursday’s report was commissioned as a concession to secure Tory support for the Budget earlier this year.
And Conservative finance spokesman Derek Brownlee said: "We want this to trigger a full public debate about the steps which are needed to bring spending down to affordable levels while minimising the impact on public services."
The Tories want Scottish Water removed from the public sector, arguing a sell-off could save billions.
A report earlier this year for Age Scotland indicated that free personal care could become means tested as budgets are squeezed. The cost of the policy more than doubled in five years to £273.7m in 2008/09, according to figures released last month.
Meanwhile Labour finance spokesman Andy Kerr said: "The publication of the Independent Budget Review Report will be a significant step forward in the debate about how we manage Scotland's finances and it should be taken seriously."
The review panel is chaired by former Scottish Enterprise chief executive Crawford Beveridge, along with Sir Neil McIntosh and Robert Wilson.
The new Tory/Lib Dem coalition already warned that harsh cuts are needed to address the UK's £155bn annual deficit.
Spending reductions of £6bn were announced soon after the coalition came to power in May.
In his emergency Budget last month, Chancellor George Osborne said departments, including devolved administrations like Scotland, would face average cuts of 25% when the Government's public spending review is completed in October.
Scottish Government economists estimated that the impact in Scotland could impact on a £42 billion public spending squeeze over about 16 years.
Today's report is aimed at informing "public and parliamentary debate" ahead of a review covering the next three financial years.
