Scotland’s newly-appointed cabinet minister for public sector reform has said changing the way services are delivered will be the “defining task” of the Scottish Parliament’s current four-year term.
First Minister John Swinney created the new reform post following last month’s Holyrood elections and handed former public finance minister Ivan McKee the brief.
The SNP’s election manifesto pledged to reduce the number of public bodies in Scotland “substantially” and invest in new technology to support improved – but cheaper – public services. It also committed to reforming the “bureaucracy of the state”, however the document was short on detail about the magnitude of change.
In a Scottish Parliament debate on public-sector reform last week, McKee pledged that firmed up details of the SNP’s plans would be published within the new government’s “first 100 days”, with legislation to follow.
“Public service reform is at the heart of this administration,” McKee told MSPs. “We are not making marginal changes; we must reimagine the state as an enabler, which means rewiring our public services system to deliver on that vision. That means listening to and working with communities, those who rely on services, and the workforce in order to make changes and improve service delivery.”
McKee said public service reform would be about delivering a Scotland in which “citizens enjoy excellent public services that meet their individual needs and where the staff who provide those services feel valued and are empowered to make a difference to people’s lives”.
He said the vision would be “enabled by more joined-up and integrated services, with greater investment in prevention”, all of which would be delivered efficiently.
McKee told MSPs that his belief is that public service reform is the “defining task of this session of parliament” – which is due to finish in 2030.
The SNP has been the dominant political party in Scotland for the last 19 years through a mix of minority and majority governments. However, McKee said the party’s plans for public sector reform will only be achievable with the assistance of opposition parties.
“We will not deliver the scale of change that we need without some consensus across the chamber and, although the government is brimming with ideas for innovations to transform public services, we recognise that we do not have an exclusive hold on good ideas,” he said.
McKee did not address the potential scale of headcount reductions in Scotland’s public sector, or the changes envisaged for the nation’s approximately 130 public bodies.
Nevertheless, he did point to the creation of Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service in 2013 as examples of service streamlining. McKee also noted the launch of Public Services Delivery Scotland in April this year.
The body is the replacement for NHS Education for Scotland and NHS National Services Scotland. It will lead on workforce planning and development, service infrastructure and innovation, with a “particular focus” on digital transformation. According to the SNP, the organisation’s impact is expected to stretch across the whole public sector in Scotland.
McKee also pointed to savings of more than £300m as a result of more-efficient procurement over the past two years, and projected savings of “more than £50m” from estate rationalisation.
Scottish Labour argues that the SNP is facing a £4.7bn “fiscal gap”. McKee told Thursday’s debate that the Scottish Government had already set out how it would close that gap.
He told MSPs that the party’s public service reform plans would be about the future of design and delivery, and ensuring that people’s needs are met.
“It is about driving integration, simplification and collaboration,” he said. “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.”