Radical changes proposed for public sector

Councils could get more power; police and fire service organisation could be shaken up

News, 2 December 2005

Radical changes to Scotland's police and fire services, councils, health boards and enterprise companies will be discussed by ministers next year.

In an article in today's Herald, finance and public service reform minister Tom McCabe promises there will be no "sacred cows" in his proposals for reform.

Mr McCabe's reforms are aimed at getting organisations to work together better and more economically, with less duplication. The proposals target the existence of eight separate police forces in Scotland - there are plans to cut the numbers of of forces in England and Wales from 43 to 12 strategic ones - and could give councils some of the duties currently undertaken by health boards and enterprise companies.

In addition, the proposals would see voluntary organisations taking up more work done by local authorities. In particular, this would apply to care services looking after the elderly.

The front page article quotes Mr McCabe as saying that he wants a new law to cut through the "legal spaghetti" that makes it difficult for councils and health boards to work together. In the six years since the parliament came into existence, Mr McCabe said that ministers had been taking the time to look at the complex structure of the different organisations to work out how they could work more effectively.

Some local authority staff departments could even be merged across council boundaries. The article also reveals that the Scottish Executive is in talks with several local authorities bidding to amalgamate their council tax collection services.

Changes to the services could take place within the next two years.