Ministers open to 'radical' public sector reform

The Scottish government has said it is willing to make "radical" reforms to the public sector.

It came as ministers hosted a summit of councils, public bodies, third sector organisations and business figures calling for "systemic" change.

Public Finance Minister Ivan McKee said the event would help drive a "culture" shift, though the government has provided little detail on how it will be achieved.

Opposition MSPs called the summit a "talking shop" and accused the government of financial incompetence.

McKee told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland the Public Service Reform Summit was about "making sure everyone is focused on the common direction, understanding how we learn from each other, being radical where we have to be, making big changes where it makes sense to do so".

He told the programme the government wanted to make the public sector as "efficient and as effective as possible, delivering excellent public services within the financial envelope that we've got".

The public sector accounts for about 22% of Scotland's workforce, compared to about 17% in the UK as a whole. Average public sector salaries are also around £2,000 higher in Scotland.

The government's core workforce shrunk by 3% between 2023 and 2024, though the civil service headcount rose by more than 80% between 2015 and last year.

McKee said: "We are very proud of the fact we have more doctors, more nurses, more police officers in Scotland and that we pay them quite a bit more."

He said the government was focused on reducing so-called "back office" costs.

"That's why the Scottish government's head count went down last year, it's going to go down this year and it's going to do down next year by not hiring as many people," the minister told the BBC.

"We've saved upwards of £200m over the last two years in more efficient procurement across the public sector and there's plans to extend that further."

He said the government was still working to implement recommendations of the 2011 Christie Report, a blueprint for Scottish public service reform that called for resources to be shifted from tackling symptoms to prevention.

McKee added: "Some work has happened on that but we need to do more of that at scale across the system."

Asked what "radical" changes were being made, the minister said some island councils were moving towards a single authority model, where health boards and councils work more closely together to deliver services.

He also cited whole family support schemes, which involve healthcare, social work, justice and education agencies working in conjunction with individual families.

In its Budget for 2025-26, the government unveiled a £30m "invest to save" scheme, which ministers say will fund the costs of reform, improve efficiency and productivity.

The Scottish government has pledged to reform council tax since the SNP first came to power in 2007, but has yet to do so.

A freeze on council tax is being lifted this year, and many Scots are facing rises of up to 10% based on house valuations from 1991.

Pressed on the issue, McKee said: "The system could have been changed, but there is no point in changes for changes sake. If you make that change there is going to be winners and there is going to be losers."

"What is important is working with [council body] Cosla because it is really important that we do this together with local authorities that are going to have to deliver and live with this system going forward."

Speaking after the summit, Cosla vice-president Steven Heddle told BBC Scotland News: "This is the first step in a collective journey, I hope, on public sector reform."

He added: "We're all facing essentially the same problems in terms of finance, in term of change, in terms of various existential threats and we're all essentially serving the same people so it makes sense that we should consider it collectively."

Scottish Conservative finance spokesperson Craig Hoy described the summit as a "talking shop".

He said: "Ivan McKee's 'big idea' for public sector reform seems to be some tinkering to avoid duplicating back-office functions.

"This is an important cost-saving measure but it should be happening already and it certainly doesn't amount to the radical reform we need to Scotland's bloated public sector after 18 years of SNP waste and inefficiency."

Scottish Labour finance spokesperson Michael Marra said: "Deciding to engage with Scotland's hard pressed public sector is welcome but it is almost two decades too late from the SNP.

"Public services have been pushed to breaking point through years of financial incompetence and centralisation."