Finance and Public Administration Committee
Inquiry into the Scottish Government’s Public Service Reform programme
Background
The Scottish Government’s Resource Spending Review (RSR) published in May 2022 set out its high-level spending plans up until 2026-27 to deliver its ambitions. The Review said that “the more efficient and effective we can become in the delivery of public services, the more able we will be to achieve key priorities and direct support towards those who need it most”.
The Review identified five key areas of focus for reform over the lifetime of this Parliament:
- digitalisation,
- maximising revenue through public sector innovation,
- reform of the public sector estate,
- reform of the public body landscape, and
- improving public procurement.
Reform and pre-pandemic workforce levels
The Scottish Government has also said it wants to “return the public sector workforce broadly to pre-Covid-19 levels”. It plans to do this “while supporting expansion in key areas of service delivery, helping to hold total pay bill costs – as opposed to pay levels – at 2022-23 levels”.
Further information on the government’s plans for reform and workforce levels were expected in the Scottish Budget 2023-24 but did not materialise.
The Deputy First Minister later confirmed that, instead of targets and an overarching framework for reform, public bodies would be expected to “change the way that they operate in this financial year to ensure the sustainability of their public services”. He explained that “those changes will become apparent as organisations take decisions in order to live within the resources that have been made available to them”.
Committee Inquiry
The committee has therefore agreed to look in more detail at the Scottish Government’s public service reform programme, including its plans to keep pay bill costs at 2022-23 levels.
As part of this work, the committee will examine how public bodies are working to achieve these plans in 2023-24 and beyond.
Inquiry Remit
The remit for this inquiry is to:
- develop a greater understanding of the Scottish Government’s public service reform programme
- bring greater transparency to the aims of the programme and measures put in place by the Scottish Government to support public bodies to achieve these aims
- track progress in delivering public service reform by the Scottish Government and public bodies over the remainder of this parliamentary session until 2016
- examine the outcomes of the public service reform programme, including effectiveness, efficiency, and impact on public service delivery. This element will be explored towards the end of the parliamentary session.
Oral Evidence
The Committee took evidence on the following dates:
Tuesday 20 June 2023
The Committee took evidence from representatives from COSLA and SOLACE Scotland.
Read the agenda, papers and Official Report (substantially verbatim transcript) for this meeting
Tuesday 6 June 2023
The Committee took evidence from NHS Ayrshire and Arran.
Read the agenda, papers and Official Report (substantially verbatim transcript) for this meeting
Tuesday 30 May 2023
The Committee took evidence, in a roundtable format, from representatives from Food Standards Scotland, NatureScot, Police Scotland, Registers of Scotland, Revenue Scotland, Scottish Funding Council, South of Scotland Enterprise and Transport Scotland.
Read the agenda, papers and Official Report (substantially verbatim transcript) for this meeting
Tuesday 23 May 2023
The Committee took evidence from representatives from Audit Scotland, Glasgow Caledonian University and Reform Scotland.
Read the agenda, papers and Official Report (substantially verbatim transcript) for this meeting
Your views
To inform this inquiry, the committee sought written views from Scottish public bodies on their plans for public service reform in their sectors, and others with a view on how the reform programme is working in practice and how it is delivering effective and efficient services.
The committee was particularly keen to hear from:
- all types and sizes of public sector bodies from across the public sector
- others affected by the Scottish Government’s public service reform programme, and
- think-tanks, academics and commentators on progress with, and outcomes from, the reform programme.
Written Submissions
The call for views closed on 1 May 2023.
The Committee received 21 responses from public service organisations. Read those responses at the following link:
Written submissions received from public service organisations
The Committee received 11 responses from individuals and non-public service organisations. Read those responses at the following link:
Written submissions received from individuals and non-public service organisations
SPICe Summary of Evidence
The Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) has produced a summary of the written submissions received. Read the SPICe summary here:
SPICe Summary of Written Submissions (217KB, pdf) posted 25 May 2023
Timetable
Monday 1 May 2023
The call for views closes.
May/June 2023
Witnesses invited to give oral evidence
Autumn 2023
The evidence gathered will be used to inform the committee’s pre-budget 2024-25 scrutiny and report.
2024 - 2026
The committee plans to ask public bodies, on an annual basis, about their progress in delivering service reform, and to review the overall outcomes of the programme towards the end of the parliamentary term.