28 February 2003
Unison Scotland has called for the effective abolition of the Private Finance Initiative in a manifesto launched ahead of May's elections for the country's Parliament.
It said: 'The time has come for the Scottish government to draw a line in the sand as far as PFI projects are concerned. Cheaper public sector borrowing should finance future projects.'
The union called for the revitalisation of public services through a commitment to a set of principles, which include transparency, accountability, active participation from users and staff, and the use of networks of public bodies to deliver services.
'High-quality public services require resources that come from funding sources that are not in conflict with [these] principles,' the manifesto said.
'Continued adherence to the myth of private sector "efficiency" through PFI and PPP schemes has meant that public service renewal has not been achieved.'
Unison also called for an end to 'the tyranny of the targets' as a way of holding service delivery to account. A new system should be based on 'inputs, outputs, outcomes and process', it said. This would take account of resource availability and the social and economic needs of the community.
Unison also called for wider borrowing powers for Scottish local authorities, including restoration of their role as providers of new affordable homes. 'It would make far more sense to allow local authorities and their tenants to determine the proper mix of housing tenures rather than continuing with the current crude coercion of removing debt charges only if houses are lost to democratic control,' the manifesto said.
The political infighting over the May elections is already well under way. Liberal Democrat Deputy First Minister Jim Wallace this week condemned 'negative campaigning' by his Labour coalition colleagues after the publication of a leaked memo claiming the LibDems were 'soft on crime'.
'The fact that I've presided over the biggest number ever of police officers in Scotland and the highest detection rates since the Second World War, I think gives lie to that kind of allegation,' Wallace said.
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