Meeting of the Parliament 18 September 2025
I welcome the SPCB Supported Bodies Landscape Review Committee’s report and recommendations on how the SPCB-supported bodies landscape can be improved. It is a long title, but it is an important topic, and I will talk about the wider context in relation to the Government’s wider public service reform agenda.
I was pleased to give evidence to the committee earlier this year and, in my written response on 9 September, I set out the Government’s position on the committee’s report. I will reiterate that today and offer any clarification that is required. I thank everyone for their work and contributions to the committee’s report.
At the heart of the report is a desire for the efficient delivery of public services, which very much aligns with the Government’s public service reform ambitions. I recognise the committee’s interest in reform of the public bodies landscape, and the Government accepts the committee’s recommendation that the Scottish Government undertakes a strategic mapping exercise to identify the functions of all Scottish public bodies—not just those that the SPCB supports—and where they overlap. I am pleased to confirm to the committee and the Parliament that that work is already under way and will be completed as part of workstream 4 of the public service reform strategy, which I published on 19 June this year.
That strategy identifies how public bodies can deliver services more efficiently and effectively, building on the principles set out in the Christie commission on the future delivery of public services. The review of public body functions will address the committee’s recommendations and inform decisions on future size, structure and coherence across the wider public sector.