By David Scott
22 April 2010
Politicians in Scotland have been told there is no case for excluding particular public services from efficiency savings if the sector is to meet the challenges of the financial crisis.
In a report to the Scottish Parliament’s finance committee, submitted this week, Audit Scotland warned against ring-fencing selected frontline services, which could fuel efficiency demands on other sectors. Political parties in Scotland have said they want to protect services such as health
care and schools from cuts.
However, the Audit Scotland report said: ‘Excluding any specific sector, policy area or services from the requirement to deliver services more efficiently represents a missed opportunity and could significantly increase the pressure for other spending areas to find savings.’
The report warned that public bodies had difficult decisions to make and that future reductions in public spending would ‘be very challenging’.
Giving evidence to the finance committee on April 20, CIPFA Scotland policy manager Don Peebles told the MSPs that Scotland’s £30bn budget could face cuts of up to 15%.
He pointed out that much of the debate had concentrated so far on protecting services and spending rather than on the cuts that could be made.
Work carried out by the institute on the consequences of protecting services showed that ring-fencing a service such as health and wellbeing would lead to ‘disproportionate’ cuts of around 25% elsewhere.
The impact of this on local government would be a cut of about £2.4bn over three years. Peebles warned: ‘It is important to appreciate there is a consequence of the type of decision we are actually going to take when talking about cuts juxtaposed alongside efficiency.’ He said ‘radical thinking’ was required.
In the preceding evidence session, auditor general Bob Black and deputy Caroline Gardner told the MSPs that, in the current economic climate, plans to find 2% efficiency savings would not be enough to bridge a potential spending gap of £1.2bn–£2.9bn.
Black said he shared the ‘pessimism’ voiced by others about the prospects for public spending. He added: ‘I think we need to go beyond the comparatively successful efficient government programme that has been run over the past few years and is still running.’
The Audit Scotland report said difficult decisions would need to be made and this would require ‘strong leadership and engagement from senior figures in all parts of the public sector’.
22 April 2010
Politicians in Scotland have been told there is no case for excluding particular public services from efficiency savings if the sector is to meet the challenges of the financial crisis.
In a report to the Scottish Parliament’s finance committee, submitted this week, Audit Scotland warned against ring-fencing selected frontline services, which could fuel efficiency demands on other sectors. Political parties in Scotland have said they want to protect services such as health
care and schools from cuts.
However, the Audit Scotland report said: ‘Excluding any specific sector, policy area or services from the requirement to deliver services more efficiently represents a missed opportunity and could significantly increase the pressure for other spending areas to find savings.’
The report warned that public bodies had difficult decisions to make and that future reductions in public spending would ‘be very challenging’.
Giving evidence to the finance committee on April 20, CIPFA Scotland policy manager Don Peebles told the MSPs that Scotland’s £30bn budget could face cuts of up to 15%.
He pointed out that much of the debate had concentrated so far on protecting services and spending rather than on the cuts that could be made.
Work carried out by the institute on the consequences of protecting services showed that ring-fencing a service such as health and wellbeing would lead to ‘disproportionate’ cuts of around 25% elsewhere.
The impact of this on local government would be a cut of about £2.4bn over three years. Peebles warned: ‘It is important to appreciate there is a consequence of the type of decision we are actually going to take when talking about cuts juxtaposed alongside efficiency.’ He said ‘radical thinking’ was required.
In the preceding evidence session, auditor general Bob Black and deputy Caroline Gardner told the MSPs that, in the current economic climate, plans to find 2% efficiency savings would not be enough to bridge a potential spending gap of £1.2bn–£2.9bn.
Black said he shared the ‘pessimism’ voiced by others about the prospects for public spending. He added: ‘I think we need to go beyond the comparatively successful efficient government programme that has been run over the past few years and is still running.’
The Audit Scotland report said difficult decisions would need to be made and this would require ‘strong leadership and engagement from senior figures in all parts of the public sector’.
