Meeting of the Parliament 11 June 2026 [Last updated 19:16]
I will talk more about that in the course of my remarks, but, briefly, prevention is one of the four core principles of the Christie commission. When we published the public sector reform strategy last year, we also published an extensive document outlining all the preventative innovations that have been implemented. There are many of those and there is an extensive piece of work that backs up that approach and shows how the numbers stack up with regards to investment and return. As we take forward the budget process for 2027-28, we will implement a process of tagging spend so that, for the first time, we will know what is classed as preventative spending, at what level that prevention sits and what impact it is having.
Despite the progress that we have made, we recognise that we have not delivered the scale and pace of reform that is required. The public service reform strategy identified the systemic barriers that we face: siloed organisations, budgeting that supports structures but that is not always aligned to services and a culture that can be slow to change.
The strategy sets out the actions that we are taking to tackle those barriers. Those include very clearly setting out our expectations that public service leaders should focus on systems, not silos, and our intention to empower staff, service users and communities. We will reform the national performance framework and change our budget processes so that funds flow to where they can make the biggest impact rather than getting stuck in silos, and we will ensure that the workforce and communities are part of the reform process rather than reform being something that is done to them.
Public service reform is about the future of public services in Scotland—how we design them, deliver them and ensure that they meet the needs of the people they serve. It is about driving integration, simplification and collaboration. That means that we must be open to changing how our system fits together, where decisions are made and how investment takes place to deliver for people. In our first 100 days, we will lay out our plans for public service renewal and the bill that will follow.
We know the pressures that public services face—demographic change, rising demand, fiscal constraint, global uncertainty, increasing complexity of need and increasing expectations from the public that they serve. In last year’s medium-term financial strategy, we published our assessment of the scale of the fiscal challenge over the next five years, and in the fiscal sustainability delivery plan we set out the actions that we are taking to close that deficit. Nevertheless, without reform, those pressures will outstrip the resources that are available. The choice is clear: either we change how we deliver services or we risk being unable to sustain them. That is a risk that this Government is not willing to accept.
Public service reform is not just about the services of today; it is about stewardship and protecting public services for generations to come. We have to prevent problems before they start and not just respond when they reach a crisis point. Poverty, poor health and inequality are not inevitable. They are challenges that we can address earlier and more effectively, and when we do so, the benefits are profound, including better outcomes for people, stronger communities and reduced long-term pressure on services. That is why we are committed to focusing on prevention and expanding early intervention. Prevention is not just the right thing to do to improve lives; it is essential for long-term sustainability.