Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the (a) Scottish Government, (b) Welsh Government and (c) Northern Ireland Executive either individually or collectively have requested additional borrowing capacity for the purposes of responding to the covid-19 outbreak.

As a result of the coronavirus pandemic and following requests from the devolved administrations for more certainty over their funding, including greater borrowing powers, the UK Government announced the unprecedented Barnett guarantee in July 2020. The guarantee initially provided £12.7bn of additional funding and was uplifted three times to reflect the changing situation – eventually reaching £16.8bn.

The guarantee provided the devolved administrations with the necessary funding certainty to decide how and when to provide support without having to wait for the UK Government to announce new funding first. It also meant that the devolved administrations benefitted from the strength of HM Treasury and the Bank of England rather than needing to borrow themselves.

Further information on the Barnett guarantee can be found on the following gov uk page:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/barnett-consequentials-and-the-barnett-guarantee/barnett-consequentials-and-the-barnett-guarantee