Meeting of the Parliament 11 January 2024
No, thank you.
In December, I provided the Finance and Public Audit Committee with a detailed update that set out the Government’s aims and principles for an ambitious 10-year programme of public service reform. The update included the actions that we need to take over the next two years to bring together a common approach for reform; to further align our policies and reform programmes; and to enable and empower our partners to act.
In short, the Government’s vision is for all public services to be person centred and designed around the unique needs of individuals; to be focused on prevention and prioritising early intervention and support to reduce the need for crisis intervention in the future; to be place based and designed in ways that best meet the distinctive needs of communities across Scotland; and to be built on partnership and creative collaboration with partners.
Achieving that vision will not be easy, and the Scottish Government cannot do that alone. We therefore want to build a consensus around those new ways of working with local government, the third sector and other partners in order to achieve it.
The Government has a clear plan to deliver reform. We are working with local government and the public to take forward reforms that enable us to change how services are delivered at a local level. We remain committed to delivering the local governance review and the democracy matters initiative alongside the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities; to exploring single authority models; and to delivering on commitments to reform, funding and accountability in the Verity house agreement.
We are aligning all of our major policy reforms and investments around our shared vision for public services. Across our education and skills sector, we are reforming to make sure that everyone in Scotland is supported to fulfil their potential. We will continue to support schools and local authorities to improve the attainment of children and young people who are impacted by poverty; that is underpinned by £1 billion-worth of investment in the school attainment challenge in the current session of Parliament.
We are continuing to reform our justice system to prioritise victims and witnesses; to protect front-line services; to make better use of digital approaches; and to support greater collaboration between partners to keep communities safe. In health and social care, the development of the national care service builds on our strong commitment to high-quality, consistent and fair public services. Our programme of co-design is making sure that people are at the heart of those developments, and that human rights principles are embedded, as we deliver for the more than 230,000 people in Scotland who receive social care support.
We are also driving innovation and making public services more efficient, as set out in the resource spending review. Our single Scottish estate programme has already reduced the size and cost of, and emissions from, the public sector estate. It has delivered savings of more than £4 million through the co-location of services and the closure of surplus offices in Edinburgh and Dundee. Work is under way to consolidate the public sector estate in Glasgow from five premises into one new net zero carbon property to deliver associated carbon reductions alongside anticipated revenue savings of more than £3 million a year from 2028-29.
We are expanding the use of national collaborative procurement. That approach has the potential to deliver significant efficiencies: for every £1 that is invested in Scottish Government-led collaborative procurement, more than £40 is returned in financial benefits. In 2022-23, more than £130 million was saved through that approach.
Digital technology and infrastructure is also a key enabler of public service reform. For example, we invested £1.8 million in a new digital dermatology service in 2023. The programme has the potential to reduce demand for out-patient appointments by up to 50 per cent, and it will lead to a better and quicker service for patients as well as reducing pressure on our workforce. The Scottish Government is continuing to review its own workforce numbers carefully to ensure that we are delivering for the people of Scotland as effectively and efficiently as possible. From March 2022 to the end of September 2023, the size of our contingent workforce has reduced by 27 per cent, thereby reducing reliance on temporary staff and contractors.
I have been clear that the Scottish Government cannot do this alone. Collaboration is central to how we deliver ambitious reform across the public sector. In the past year, we have strengthened our collaboration with local government, public bodies, business and the third sector. We have worked effectively with the Scottish Green Party through the Bute house agreement, and I welcome continued collaboration across this Parliament as we seek to deliver collectively for the people of Scotland.
I move,
That the Parliament welcomes the Scottish Government’s continued investment in delivering public services for Scotland’s people and communities; notes, however, the economic damage of Brexit, which means up to £3.7 billion of potential funding for these services has been lost; recognises the Scottish Government’s legacy of successful public service reform in recent years that has improved outcomes for people and communities, including health and social care partnerships and Social Security Scotland; further recognises the valuable role that public sector workers play in delivering precious public services; supports the Scottish Government’s ambitious public service reform projects in the education, justice and health and social care sectors, which will deliver further reforms over the next decade, including by focusing on prevention and early intervention, involving people and communities in the design of public services and embracing the power of digital technologies; believes that further reform to public services will be necessary to ensure that public services remain fiscally sustainable and continue to improve outcomes for Scotland’s people and communities, and welcomes, therefore, constructive contributions from partners across the public sector, third sector and business community, as all stakeholders work to protect and reform Scotland’s public services together.
15:10