News / HIE denies £7.5m budget cut
HIGHLANDS and Islands Enterprise (HIE) has downplayed fears over its budget for the next year after it was suggested the agency was in line to have its Scottish Government funding cut by £7.5 million.
Following the publication of the Scottish draft budget on Thursday, it was reported that HIE’s budget would be cut by around ten per cent to £67 million for the 2017/18 financial year.
However, a spokesman for the development agency said on Friday that the budget cut was in fact only around £500,000.
He said the higher figure for 2016/17 – which suggested the £7.5 million cut – included additional funding for Wave Energy Scotland, a subsidiary of HIE which is yet to have its draft budget finalised.
In a joint statement released after the draft budget on Thursday, Shetland MSP Tavish Scott and his Orkney colleague Liam McArthur said they wholly reject the government’s plans for HIE.
The news of the budget cut comes just weeks after ministers controversially unveiled plans to ditch HIE’s regional board and create a catch-all board in the central belt overseeing HIE and Scottish Enterprise.
“Fears for jobs and any ability of HIE to support local businesses and communities will now only increase as a result,” Scott and McArthur said.
A spokesman for HIE, however, said: “Contrary to some reports, HIE’s draft budget for 2017/18 (£67m) is just £0.5m lower than the equivalent figure for 2016/17 (£67.5m).
“The Scottish Government draft budget quotes a higher figure for HIE’s current budget, which includes additional funding for Wave Energy Scotland (WES). WES is a subsidiary of HIE, funded by the Scottish Government, and its draft budget for 2017/18 is still to be confirmed.
“The like-for-like comparison between HIE’s draft budget for this year and next shows the true scale of the headline reduction is actually less than one per cent. In the current financial environment, we believe this is a reasonable settlement.”
Shetland Islands Council leader Gary Robinson wrote to economy minister Keith Brown this week to encourage the government to rethink abolishing the HIE board.
He said the local authority had “deep concern” over the plans, which could “dilute” the service provided by the economic development agency.
Highlands and Islands Labour MSPs Rhoda Grant and David Stewart also criticised the government’s proposals.
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