Public sector needs to be bold on reforms to drive savings, says McKee

The Scottish Government will “lead from the front” when it comes to reforming services, the public finance minister has said.

Ivan McKee, however, said that services across the public sector need to be “bold” and “work collaboratively to deliver lasting, transformational and sustainable change”.

The minister spoke out ahead of a summit on Tuesday which is looking at how to deliver £1 billion of savings over five years to help free up resources for frontline service.

More than 140 senior figures from the public sector are meeting in Glasgow for the event, which will look at how organisations can reduce spending on corporate functions while still delivering sustainable services.

It comes in the wake of the Scottish Government’s public sector reform plan, published in June this year.

Mr McKee said that workshops at the summit would “drill into the detail of how we can work together to identify barriers, generate new ideas and take concrete actions to deliver a more efficient system”.

He said: “We have set out our ambitions and now we must focus all of our efforts on delivery.”

The minister added that the focus on efficiency was “about protecting and strengthening services for the future and ensuring every pound returns maximum value”, adding that it was also “about stripping out duplication and freeing resources to support the front line”.

In this Mr McKee said: “The Scottish Government will lead from the front but we need all partners to be bold and work collaboratively to deliver lasting, transformational and sustainable change.”