HIE faces a ‘grim’ cut to its budget

HIE’s budget for 2024-25 will fall to £54.8 million, down from £62.8 million in the current year. As recently as 2018-19 it stood at £71.7 million. Taking account of inflation, the figure set for the next financial year represents a cut of 40 per cent in this period alone.

The latest reduction was concealed within the Scottish budget announced by Finance Minister, Shona Robinson, which also included a local government settlement that will, according to council leaders, “mean cuts in every community in Scotland”.

HIE did not issue any statement about the impact of the latest cut on its ability to function. The Gazette asked for comment from the agency and a spokesman said: “We recognise this is a very challenging time across the public sector and are considering the budget announcement and its implication for how we target investment in the region over the coming year”.

In October, when a draft budget suggested a cut to HIE of 4.8 per cent – little more than one-third of what has now emerged – the chief executive, Stuart Black, told a Holyrood committee that it would impact their work in communities and support for business.

HIE is also facing pressures on its budget from developments related to offshore wind, particularly in the Moray Firth area, making the implications for peripheral areas of the region even more worrying.

Highlands and Islands Labour MSP, Rhoda Grant, said: “The HIE cuts are grim at a time when we need to build the economy to stop depopulation. Instead of an engine for change, HIE has had its budget cut to the point at which it cannot do its job.

“The Highlands and Islands need an agency which can grasp opportunities to provide jobs and create futures for young people in the region. The SNP-Green government’s treatment of HIE will further weaken its ability to invest where it is needed most”.

Donald Cameron, Highlands and Islands Conservative MSP, expressed shock over the scale of the cut, describing it as “completely disproportionate and part of a continuing agenda to marginalise HIE”.

Mr Cameron said: "It seems this SNP-Green coalition never stops finding ways to hammer the Highlands and Islands. It has wrecked the ferries network, tried to decimate fishing communities with ludicrous proposals and consistently neglected housing and infrastructure demands.

"Now we learn the Scottish Government is again slashing support for business and enterprise in the area. The central belt bias has never been so stark”.

Ms Robison’s budget also brought bleak news for local government and has been roundly condemned by the leadership of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, cutting across party lines.

Following a meeting of all Scotland’s council leaders including Paul Steele from Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, a statement from Cosla described the budget as “a major blow to communities (which) has put councils at financial risk with a cash cut to local government and no provision for inflation or pay increases,

“It will mean cuts in every community in Scotland and job losses across Scottish local government”.

The council leaders said that “whatever way the Government presents the figures, the reality is that once again the people in our communities have been left at the end of the queue. That is why we are calling for urgent discussions with Scottish government to ensure a meaningful negotiation on the budget takes place before the final budget is presented to Parliament”.

COSLA vice-president Stephen Heddle, who is an independent councillor from Orkney, said: “Despite the Verity House Agreement rhetoric about working together on shared priorities it is the same outcome at Budget time for local government in reality.

“The Scottish Government is claiming to protect public services, but are not protecting the essential public services provided by councils (which) deliver your homecare, schools, road maintenance, street lighting, leisure and waste services and have been locked out again”.