Scotland

3.159  The Scottish Government produced an Infrastructure Investment Plan in 2008 setting out a 10-year forward look that spanned priorities in public investment in both economic and social infrastructure.19 This overview provided a basis for more detailed plans within Government for the ensuing three years, and also helped to shape the market's expectations of the pipeline of revenue-funded investment proposals.

3.160  The Scottish Government intends to publish an updated infrastructure investment plan before the end of 2011, refreshed to reflect the outcome of the Scottish Spending Review published in September. This updated plan will set out the Scottish Government's priorities for investment over the medium term, its ambition to use spending on infrastructure as a means for stimulating economic activity across Scotland and more widely, and for boosting the efficiency of the economy and of public services. These impacts of infrastructure investment are central to the Scottish Government's economic strategy.

3.161  The Plan will set out the rationale for why, how and in what kinds of large-scale infrastructure projects the Scottish Government will invest, across all sectors of economic and social infrastructure in support of the following priorities:

•  delivering sustainable economic growth;

•  managing the transition to a low carbon economy;

•  supporting delivery of efficient and high quality public services; and

•  supporting employment and opportunity across Scotland.

3.162  The Plan will recognise that, in order to deliver maximum benefits from economic infrastructure, it is important to ensure close coordination with partners in the rest of the United Kingdom, particularly in relation to cross border investments, such as High Speed Rail and Broadband, and areas in which there is currently shared interest, such as electricity and gas transmission networks.




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19 Infrastructure investment plan 2008, Scottish Government, 2008