Our response to the Scottish budget 2025-26

10 December 2024

In the draft Scottish Budget 2025-26, the Scottish Government has committed an additional £34m resource funding to arts and culture.

This includes:

• A 5.9% increase for general operational costs of National Museums Scotland
• A 9% increase for general operational costs of National Galleries Scotland
• A 39.3% increase for non-national museums (including funding for museums and galleries across Scotland via Museums Galleries Scotland, and direct funding for the Scottish Maritime, Mining and Fisheries Museums)

The MA has been working to make the case for the vital role of museums and for new public investment in museums.

We welcome the Scottish Government’s proposed uplift to the arts and culture budget.

However, the increased spending for museums does not go far enough to address systemic underfunding and the extra costs museums are now facing, including increases to employer National Insurance contributions and the National Living Wage. It is likely that once these costs are factored in, little will be left for ongoing operating costs.

Museums need a real terms increase in funding to support them to do ambitious and transformational work connecting communities to collections.

Image credit: Gillian Hayes, Dapple Photography; Courtesy Hoskins Architects