SWBG blog
SWBG's 2017
2017 was a busy year for the Scottish Women’s Budget Group, so here's some things you might have missed in some of our key areas of work.
Our first meeting of 2018 will be on February 1st in Glasgow – we’d love you to come along, find out more, and help us plan our work for the year ahead. There are more details below and you can sign up here.
So what is the Scottish Budget anyway?
On December 15th, the Draft Scottish Budget will be announced. Here, we answer some of your frequently asked questions about the budget process in Scotland.
What is the Scottish Budget?
The Scottish Budget is published annually and sets out spending plans for the Scottish Government, including spending on non-executive bodies like Police Scotland and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), and agencies like Scottish Enterprise.
It also sets out plans to raise revenue through Scotland-specific national taxes.
The Scottish Draft Budget occasionally incorporates a Spending Review which sets out overarching spending and revenue-raising priorities for multi-year periods. A Spending Review is a “strategic vision for Scotland’s public finances” over a four-five year period, and up to now has usually followed a Comprehensive Spending Review by the UK Government which normally comes after a UK General Election.
Equality must be at the heart of Scotland’s budget
In advance of the release of the Draft Scottish Budget, the Scottish Women’s Budget Group is calling for care to be included in the Scottish Government’s planned investment in infrastructure.
She works hard for the money
On Tuesday 7th June, the Scottish Women's Budget Group joined forces with Engender and Close the Gap to hold an event looking at gender budgeting.
It was a fantastic day, with around 50 women coming together to discuss how we can work together to push for a feminist economic plan for Scotland. A full report is on the way, but in the meantime you can access the slides from Professor Angela O'Hagan here, and Emma Ritch, executive director of Engender, here.
You can also see some photos of the day here.
Two follow up meetings will be happening in Edinburgh and Glasgow in August. Book your place here.
If you want to get more involved in the Scottish Women's Budget Group, you can sign up here.
Dignity and recognition for all work will be the basis of a fair and sustainable economy
*This post was was orginally published on the CLASS blog*
By Angela O'Hagan
As Frances O’Grady argues in the foreword to the CLASS publication “Election 2015: What’s at stake for work, pay and unions?” the forthcoming election is “a chance to reject a broken economic system”. That encapsulates the arguments from a feminist economics and feminist political analysis of the current economic system and the policy responses of the UK government that are increasingly harmful to women’s wellbeing and their economic and social autonomy.
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