By Keith Aitken in Dundee | 15 March 2013
Public finance systems in Scotland have failed to keep pace with the shift to results-based services taking place across the nation, a report from CIPFA Scotland has argued.
Launched yesterday at the annual CIPFA Scotland conference in Dundee, Public finances: at the edge of chaos and ready for outcomes? said the finance function was still geared towards supporting internal organisational functions rather than policy programmes that have the potential to boost local economies and transform citizens’ quality of life.
‘Most public bodies’ budgets are configured around the organisational and managerial structure, rather than being built up around programmes or outcomes,’ it states.
‘In our view, budget choices are being exercised within organisational parameters rather than by structuring budgets around programmes which are known to contribute to stated outcomes.’
The report acknowledges that the Christie Commission on the Future Delivery of Public Services has forged new thinking about services and Scottish ministers had driven a shift to outcomes-based community planning. But it notes that ‘the remaining element, the public finance system, has not been the focus of any review or shift in approach, and in our view warrants further consideration’.
While ministers have made clear that they expect the outcomes-based approach to be increasingly embedded in public services, ‘there is little evidence of there being real accountability, within the existing channels, in relation to the outcomes contained within Single Outcome Agreements’.
It also argues that although SOAs steer the work of Community Planning Partnerships, the outcome-based approach is less evident among individual organisations within the partnerships.
Responding to the report today, Scottish Finance Secretary John Swinney said it showed that public money was most effective the closer it was distributed to the individuals who would use the services.
‘That’s an analysis that I accept as very significant, and that I would encourage you to explore further,’ he told conference delegates.
Swinney added that a key focus for the current Scottish Government had been to empower local discretion by reducing ring-fenced budgets.
