Scottish Government faces union warning over spending measures

The Herald Scotland

19-06-2025

Public finance minister Ivan McKee will this afternoon (Thursday) unveil details of the crackdown which aims to reduce "wasteful" spending by the state amid major financial pressures.
It is understood the proposals will increase the amount of cash saved over the following five years so that by 2029/30 the government will be saving by up to £1 billion annually on backroom operations.
The strategy is expected to set out how substantial savings can be made through collaborative working across organisations focusing on reducing demand for services such as the NHS through preventation such as policies to reduce diseases and social harms caused by poverty.
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But the government's proposals will also seek to reduce waste through more efficient procurement, cutting the cost of managing estates and buildings, the removal of duplication and the enhanced use of automation while aiming to improve the delivery of frontline services such as health and education.
A major review of civil service is not being ruled out with the Scottish Government's 55 directorates potentially facing a restructure and a reduction in their number.
It is expected that the cash-saving proposals will highlight too a possible need to "consolidate" Scotland's 130 quangos with cost-cutting mergers between bodies potentially being undertaken.
However, in comments which could raise the prospect of future battles between trade unions and public sector employers, Ms Foyer warned: "You can't fix public services by cutting the people who deliver them."
STUC general secretary Roz Foyer (Image: Newsquest) She told The Herald: 'It's illogical to talk about reducing headcount while NHS waiting times, A&E delays and social care backlogs are at crisis levels all while local government is all but being cleared out.
'Scotland deserves high-quality public services that are fully funded, resilient and responsive. That means investing in the workforce, not undermining it. We aren't against reform, far from it."
She went on to say that while there was much public debate around artificial intelligence (AI) and technological change, "an ageing population will require greater investment in services delivered by people, not machines".
Public finance minister Ivan McKee (Image: Scottish Government) First Minister John Swinney discussed the thinking behind the strategy when he addressed public sector leaders in Glasgow on Monday telling his audience the sector will shrink as services look to innovations like AI and his government plans to embark on a 'renewal' of public services by harnessing new technologies.
Mr Swinney also noted the findings of the Commission on the Future Delivery of Public Services in Scotland, chaired by Dr Campbell Christie in 2011, which had been tasked with examining the long-term challenges facing public services—including budget pressures, demographic change, rising demand and persistent inequalities.
The Commission's report called for community-driven, preventative and collaborative approaches to address systemic challenges. Key recommendations included prioritising prevention to reduce long-term costs, enhancing performance through technology, and closer working across sectors.
And in his speech on Monday, Mr Swinney referred to the creation of Police Scotland, where the country's eight police forces were amalgamated into one organisation, as one of the "key successes" from the Christie report noting the restructure had "led to over £200m in savings".
But Ms Foyer told The Herald workers had paid a price to previous public sector changes.
"Ministers must learn from the Christie Commission and the harsh lessons of the pandemic, whereby workers were thrown to the wolves, because of under-resourced services," she said.
'Before charging ahead, the Scottish Government must engage meaningfully with trade unions. We have made it clear to ministers that we will not support any plan that puts public services or public service workers at risk.
"Politicians across the political spectrum need to face up to the fact that total tax revenues will have to rise in the coming years. The real question the Scottish Government and others are ducking is how they will do that fairly, using Scotland's devolved tax powers, to support our public sector workers.
Mr McKee's strategy comes a week ahead of the Scottish Government's publication of its medium term fiscal strategy and follows warnings of a challenging financial landscape for the administration.
In its latest five-year outlook last month the fiscal watchdog, the Scottish Fiscal Commission, forecast that the country's public finances will come under increasing strain over the next five years, due to rising welfare costs, sluggish economic growth and an £851 million income tax black hole.
Public Finance Minister Ivan McKee pledged that Scotland's approach to public service reform will help deliver the fairer future that people in Scotland want.
Mr McKee said: 'The strategy for public service reform that I have developed and will present to Parliament is all about doing things better, not doing less. It will enable Scotland to lead our own agenda on reform, not follow that of others.
'One of this government's key priorities is to improve public services.
'We are clear that everyone in Scotland should have access to services that are efficient, good quality and effective. We are also clear that this is about putting more funding into frontline services and investing in and empowering public service workers to deliver what people need.
'A key aim will be to identify systemic barriers that have prevented progress and to shift where and how investments are made, to take a more preventative approach – optimising the impact of our funding, making services more sustainable in the long term and making a real difference to people's lives.'