Current status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 28 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to improve productivity in the public sector, and how it measures any progress on this.
The Scottish Government’s Public Service Reform (PSR) Programme sets out Scottish Government’s approach to driving efficiency and effectiveness, and to delivering service change to prioritise prevention.
An update on the PSR programme was shared with the Finance and Public Administration Committee in December 2023 and a subsequent update was shared in September 2024. The most recent update sets out the plans for the Public Bodies Programme and details of savings realised and projected from efficiency programmes within Scottish Government such as Single Scottish Estate and the Intelligent Automation Centre of Excellence.
Our Single Scottish Estate, National Collaborative Procurement, Commercial Value for Money and digital programmes are securing cost avoiding and cash releasing savings, expected to reach up to £280 million over a two-year period by the end of 2024-25, with further projected savings of nearly £300 million over the following two financial years to the end of 2026-27. The Scottish Government’s total workforce reduced in both the 2022-23 and 2023-24 financial years by 0.4% and 3.0% respectively, with ongoing monitoring to ensure the workforce is delivering as effectively and efficiently as possible.
In November we have published data on corporate costs from public bodies. This data will support Government and public bodies to work together to drive efficiencies and release resources to the frontline.
The latest Scottish Government labour productivity statistics for Scotland for 2023 show output per hour worked for Government services. The recent Scottish Government publication Public Sector: Economic Overview presents a range of public sector statistics including labour productivity statistics for relevant sectors.
Scottish Government analysts are also stakeholders in the ONS led Public Services Productivity Review. The first phase will look at measurement improvements for England but will also work with devolved administrations to share best practice and identify what data sources would be required to make improvements, with a view to how UK-wide measurement improvements will be incorporated into the national accounts in future. The latest ONS update can be found here.