By Keith Aitken in Edinburgh | 28 June 2011
A new emphasis on early intervention and preventative spending is expected to feature prominently in the recommendations of a major review into Scottish public services, due to be published tomorrow.
The report of the Christie Commission is understood to have decided against calling for major structural change in local government or other public authorities.Instead, its focus is likely to be on removing constraints
on partnership working between different service providers – including local
and national government –
extending the best value principle, and beefing up the public audit
process.
The report is the result of a seven-month study under former Scottish Trades Union Congress general secretary Campbell Christie. It is expected to propose an approach to service design and provision founded on evidence-based initiatives, more integrated provision and greater emphasis on outcomes.
Another major theme of the report is likely to be Scotland’s
social and economic inequalities which, it will say, have been left largely
unremedied by compound growth in overall public spending over recent years.
Many of these ideas are already familiar themes in the debate over safeguarding Scotland’s public services in the face of public spending shortfalls and growing demographic pressures on demand.
Critics say the report’s impact is likely to depend on its ability to move the debate on from the aspirational to the active, and to meld the disparate reforms it proposes into a coherent and holistic agenda for radical public service reform.
