21 May 2004
The budget targets set by the Scottish Executive contain 'very serious weaknesses', an economic consultant has told members of the Holyrood parliament's finance committee.
Peter Wood of consultancy Tribal HCH said the targets were highly variable, ranging from the tightly specified, such as all patients having access to a member of a primary care team within 48 hours, to the vague, such as enabling more older people to live in their own homes.
The Scottish Executive maintained that the targets were robust and measurable. 'We certainly do not invent targets for the sake of it,' an Executive spokesman told Public Finance.
Wood told the committee that the budget of the Executive, like that of every other government, had imperfect mechanisms for measuring the outcome of budget objectives and priorities.
He argued that many of the targets were scarcely credible as indicators of progress against objectives. For example, against an objective 'to encourage and support lifelong learning and to widen access to skills opportunities', the only target was an increase in the proportion of graduates in the workforce.
The objective of promoting social inclusion through better public transport had the target of increasing hits on a website and increasing use of a travel inquiry line, Wood said.
He added: 'It is not at all clear how challenging these targets are. Cause and effect is not always clear –some targets may be secured on the basis of secular trends (eg, smoking levels or mortality rates) rather than as a result of spending.'
The Executive spokesman said the Spending Review 2002 document, Building a better Scotland, was innovative because it published robust delivery targets across all portfolios for the first time. This was the commitment ministers made to Finance Minister Andy Kerr.
'In short, this is what the money buys and what ministers have pledged to deliver for that money. That major innovation put the emphasis on delivery rather than money,' the spokesman.
PFmay2004
