CIPFA calls for careful transition to national emergency forces

Don Peebles, policy and technical manager at CIPFA Scotland, told Public Finance that the reforms posed a range of risks to the financial management of both the outgoing regional boards – there are currently eight for each service – and the national bodies that will replace them.

These risks, he said, could be mitigated if the new bodies shadowed the boards for a year before taking over. ‘We strongly believe that there’s a clear case for a shadow period of operation. If not, the risks that we have identified will still be there. Careful consideration will be needed about how to manage them.’

Peebles pointed to the transitional period before the 1996 upheaval of Scottish local government, when new unitary authorities overlapped for a year with the old district and regional councils.

Ministers claim that the police and fire reforms will save £130m a year, but CIPFA has criticised the lack of independent verification for this business case. Peebles believes savings need to be offset against significant transitional risks. These include: the new bodies inheriting capital investment decisions from the old; problems with asset transfer; extricating the old boards’ finances and shared staff from local government; changes in VAT liability; the possibility of the outgoing bodies spending excessively ahead of abolition; and the loss to the services of local government’s capital borrowing rights.

Peebles also voiced concerns about the implications for governance. ‘Time is needed to ensure that the governance arrangements are robust,’ he said.

‘For example the forensic service will report directly to the proposed new police authority rather than to the chief constable. This blurs the distinction between the roles of management and of governance.’

The reforms have broad support in the Scottish Parliament, although many outside have expressed disquiet, especially about the civil liberties implications of moving to a national police force. Others predict that the rescue services, arguably more than the police, will be diminished in their effectiveness if they lose local accountability.