Extra money for affordable housing, free personal care, tackling climate change and the delivery of the promised 1,000 extra police officers will form the centerpiece of the Scottish Government's 2009-10 Budget.

The draft Budget released yesterday takes into account decisions made by the last spending review according to Finance Secretary John Swinney.

The main elements are £40m extra for free personal care in line with Sutherland recommendations and the bringing forward of £100m in spending through the Affordable Housing Investment Programme.

There is an extra £4.3m for the Climate Challenge Fund and £13m to help deliver the extra police officers.


The Government will still require the votes of at least one other party in order for the legislation to pass.

Swinney said: "Today marks the beginning of the process to deliver a budget for 09-10 that builds on our commitment to increase sustainable economic growth. We have updated the budget to reflect key decisions made by this Government since the spending review.

"That includes our decision to expand the funding of free personal care and accelerate our spending on affordable housing. Decisions that reflect this government's desire to react to the current global economic climate and our determination that Scotland's economy should emerge stronger from the current international downturn. We look forward to engaging with the Scottish Parliament and wider Scottish society as the draft budget moves forward."

Derek Brownlee MSP, Conservative Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Finance & Sustainable Growth, said: "As we did last year, we will scrutinise this budget in detail before we make any decisions. Obviously we want to make sure that our achievements from the previous Budget process - funding for more police, accelerated cuts in business rates for small and medium businesses and work on a new drugs strategy - are maintained and built upon."

(GK/JM)