Sections · PESA departmental group
Scottish Government
The Scottish Government and Scotland's public bodies, including NHS Scotland. Scottish councils are counted in Local Government. In 2025-26 the bodies in this section spent £40.8bn on services. £18.5bn of it (45.2%) can be followed to who received it, and at most 56.2% counting payees who are named but can't be identified yet.
- Reached an identified organisation
- Reached a recipient the publisher did not name
- Reached people, counted by benefit
- Reached staff (pay) or holders of government debt (interest), followed as one published total
- Named payee, not yet identified (may be another public body)
- Not followed
How far it is followed, and why the rest can't be
- The Scottish Government: 3 of 12 months publishedmeasured
Payment records for 2025-26 cover 3 months: 2025-04, 2025-05, 2025-06.
- NHS Scotland and other Scottish bodies
Scottish health boards and other Scottish public bodies' own payments are not collected. The Scottish Government's payments to them are named in its files and not yet matched.
- Below the publication threshold
Payments under £25,000 (central government and the NHS) or £500 (councils) are not published one by one. Some publishers list every payment anyway; most do not.
- Pay: followed to staff as one total£18.3bnmeasured
Wages are never published person by person, and must not be. The staff costs of the 1 bodies in this section, from HM Treasury's OSCAR database (2025-26, provisional outturn), are counted as followed to their staff.
Where the records come from
Each publisher's 2025-26 payment records, and where their money went. "Identified" means matched to a registered company, charity or other organisation outside government; "named only", a payee named in the record but not yet matched; "passed on", paid to another public body.
| Publisher | Months | Records | Identified | Named only | Withheld | Passed on |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Scottish Government | 3 | 3,127 | £155m | £4.5bn | £17m | £7.0bn |
The largest payees not yet identified
Payees paid £5m or more. Named in the records as shown, but not yet matched to a registered organisation or a public body. Some may be public bodies; until they are matched they are counted as followed by name only.
| Payee, as published | 2025-26 |
|---|---|
| NHS NATIONAL SERVICES SCOTLAND | £1.1bn |
| LOTHIAN NHS BOARD | £630m |
| SCOTTISH FUNDING COUNCIL FOR FURTHER AND HIGHER EDUCATION | £611m |
| GRAMPIAN NHS BOARD | £375m |
| AYRSHIRE & ARRAN HEALTH BOARD | £252m |
| FIFE HEALTH BOARD (NHS) | £246m |
| HIGHLAND HEALTH BOARD | £224m |
| FORTH VALLEY NHS BOARD | £195m |
| SCOTTISH AMBULANCE SERVICE | £112m |
| DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY HEALTH BOARD | £110m |
What PESA says this section spends on
| Function | 2025-26 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Health | £20.9bn | 51% |
| Social protection | £6.4bn | 16% |
| Public order and safety | £4.4bn | 11% |
| Economic affairs | £3.5bn | 9% |
| Education | £2.9bn | 7% |
| General public services | £1.3bn | 3% |
| Housing and community amenities | £586m | 1% |
| Environment protection | £472m | 1% |
| Recreation, culture and religion | £346m | 1% |