SCOTLAND

Culture secretary admits world cycling event went £8m over budget days after £6.6m arts cut was revealed


Brian Ferguson
Thu, 5 October 2023 

Angus Robertson is Scotland's culture secretary. Picture: Lisa Ferguson

Angus Robertson has admitted that a major cycling event has gone £8 million over budget – days after a £6.6 million cut for Creative Scotland was revealed.

Scotland's culture secretary suggested inflation was to blame for the extra costs for the UCI Cycling World Championships, which the Scottish Government had already committed £36 million to.

It has also emerged that Creative Scotland is facing a further £4 million worth of cuts from its budget.

Angus Robertson visits filming of The Rig at Bath Road studios in Edinburgh with Martin Compston and Emily Hampshire (Photo: comp)


The government had already upped its contribution for the cycling event, which was billed as the biggest of its kind anywhere in the world, from £30 million, after the overall budget soared to almost £60 million.

Mr Robertson was speaking at the Scottish Parliament’s culture committee as he was quizzed about the reinstatement of a 10 per cent funding cut for Creative Scotland, which he insisted would have “zero detriment” on arts organisations as the quango would be using its financial reserves to make up the cut.

Mr Robertson insisted that the need to provide extra funding for the 11-day cycling event, which brought together 13 existing cycling world championships for the first time, would be spread across government and would not be stripped out of his budget.

However in his letter confirming the cut for Creative Scotland, which has been published after a freedom of information request, Mr Robertson said he was unable to confirm £2 million for the Screen Scotland agency, £500,000 for Edinburgh's festivals and £2 million for Culture Collective, a network of 26 projects across Scotland.

He told Creative Scotland’s chief executive Iain Munro: “We are still assessing options for this and will confirm whether this funding can be released or not in due course.

The government, which originally revealed the £6.6 million cut in December, u-turned in February in the wake of an industry backlash.

Creative Scotland last week revealed that the cut had been suddenly reinstated in late September by Mr Robertson.

He and First Minister Humza Yousaf have previously suggested that public sector pay settlements and inflation were to blame for the spending pressures which led to the decision on Creative Scotland’s budget.

However Mr Robertson told the culture committee: “This year we saw funding from the Scottish Government and partners across the country to help deliver the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships, which helped promote the health and wellbeing benefits of cycling, and drive wider economic and social benefits across Scotland.

"But due to increased costs, including inflation, the total funding provided by the government and partners is in the process of being finalised. Final costs will be confirmed in due course, but are in the order of £8 million.
"Government funding for the event prior to its completion was delivered through our major events budget. But since the conclusion of the event, any additional funding that may be required will be managed centrally.”

A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: “The government has an obligation to balance the budget each year and prioritise funding to deliver the best value for every taxpayer in Scotland.

"As a result of rising costs and pressure on budgets across government, made more challenging as a result of UK inflation, we are continuing to work with partners to ensure all public investment is used to deliver the maximum benefit for communities and organisations across Scotland.”