SNP Finance Secretary John Swinney has claimed Scotland was "better off to the tune of £824 per person," compared with the rest of the UK in the financial year 2011/12.

His comments came after his government published The Government Expenditure and Revenue in Scotland (Gers) report, which offers the clearest clue about how an independent nation's finances would look.

The document, produced by the Scottish Government, showed revenues including £10.6bn from oil and gas taxes, representing Scotland's geographical share of total UK North Sea revenues of £11.3bn. But the report also found a £7.6bn black hole in the country's finances as spending outstripped income.

The North Sea funds helped limit Scotland's deficit to 5% of GDP – putting the country in a stronger fiscal position than the UK as a whole.

The UK was £121bn in the red, equivalent to 7.9% of GDP.

Total Scottish revenues were £56.9bn, including oil. The figure amounted to 9.9% of all cash raised across the UK. Scotland went £7.6bn into the red last year, but debt levels were lower than the UK as a whole.

Total public spending, by Westminster and Holyrood, amounted to £64.5bn. The figure represented 9.3% of total UK public spending of £693.6bn. Scotland has 8.4% of the UK population.

The biggest single expenditure was "social protection" – welfare and pensions – amounting to £21.7bn.

Public spending per head in Scotland was £12,134. The figure was £1197 higher than that across the UK as a whole at £10,937. The gap was the widest since 2007/8 when Scots received £1289 more.

The UK's oil revenues were the biggest since 2008/9. However, the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has forecast a steep year-on-year fall in North Sea cash up to 2017/18, when oil taxes are expected to yield £4.3bn.

The report sparked a war of words between the Yes and No camps in the referendum campaign.

Scottish Secretary Michael Moore warned the country's economy would be reliant on "volatile" oil revenues, as economists re-examined their forecasts to suggest Scotland might fall behind the rest the UK as early as next year, sooner than previously predicted.

The Fraser of Allander think- tank warned the Scottish economy would grow by just 0.9% this year, in a downgraded forecast which also predicted an extra 24,000 people out of work.

He said: "The past decade has shown the price of oil can be extremely volatile from year to year. This underlying volatility can be much better managed inside the larger UK where oil and gas revenues represent a smaller percentage of overall tax revenues."

Economist John McLaren, of the CPPR think-tank, warned falling oil cash could leave Scotland in a weaker fiscal position than the UK by 2014/15 or even as early as next year.

Mr Swinney said: "This demonstrates beyond any doubt Scotland more than pays her way in the UK. Over the last year our stronger fiscal position would have seen Scotland better off to the tune of £824 per person, or £4.4bn in total."

STUC general secretary Grahame Smith said: "Today's figures confirm our view that neither side of the independence debate should be spinning messages on Scotland's fiscal position.

"The challenge that matters in Scotland, whether independent or as part of the UK, will be how wealth is redistributed, and that is a question of tax, public services and how we go about improving pay equality in Scotland."

Meanwhile, Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said welfare spending in an independent Scotland would be "more affordable" than is currently the case in the UK.