Scotland benefits from higher spending per head in nearly every area of public spending
The main sources of per head spending variance vs the UK average are Social protection and Education & training, but most spending categories show Scotland benefitting from higher spending per head than the UK average.
Accounting adjustments are very much a special case. These are required to report the fiscal balance on a National Accounts basis (ESA 2010), consistent with ONS Public Sector Finances and with how every other country reports. They are mostly Scotland specific (e.g. related to Scottish local authority capital stock, Scottish Water, Scottish student loans and Scottish public corporations) and generally mirror accounting adjustments on the revenue side (i.e. if these accounting adjustments were excluded, revenue would need to drop by an equivalent amount).
Further Insights address the most important categories of spending difference.