New UofG Spotlight podcast: Hard choices ahead? Budget challenges facing the next Government
Published: 24 February 2026
24 February 2026: In the latest episode of the UofG Spotlight podcast, Nicola McEwen and Graeme Roy look ahead to the challenges facing the next Scottish Government as it confronts a tight fiscal landscape.
24 February 2026: In the latest episode of the UofG Spotlight podcast, Nicola McEwen and Graeme Roy look ahead to the challenges facing the next Scottish Government as it confronts a tight fiscal landscape.
Tune in to the latest episode of the UofG Spotlight podcast. Nicola McEwen and Graeme Roy open the episode looking ahead to the challenges facing the next Scottish Government as it confronts a tight fiscal landscape.
Nicola speaks with Matt Donoghue from the State Government of Victoria about Australia’s Early Intervention Investment Framework (EIIF) - an interesting approach to pooled budgeting and preventative spending that’s gaining international attention. They explore how the model works, how departments are incentivised to collaborate, and what it takes to shift resources toward long‑term prevention.
Nicola then returns with Graeme Roy and Fiona Duncan, Independent Strategic Adviser to The Promise Scotland, to consider what lessons Scotland might draw from this approach. Together they discuss whether models like pooled budgeting, whole‑family wellbeing funding, and cross‑government decision‑making can help tackle system‑wide challenges.
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First published: 24 February 2026