The newly appointed Public Service Reform Secretary has said “reform doesn’t mean cuts”, despite a £4.7 billion funding gap.
Cabinet Secretary for Public Service Reform Ivan McKee was appointed in his new role after the Holyrood election in May.
There has been speculation as to what his job will entail, with concerns it could lead to job cuts across the public service sector.
However, Mr McKee has confirmed that “reform doesn’t mean cuts”.
It's about making the money work best, so it's about getting the money to the right place. We've made no secret of the fact that money needs to move to frontline service delivery
Speaking to the Press Association on Tuesday, Mr McKee said: “Reform doesn’t mean cuts. What reform means is that we do things differently.
“And we talk about efficiency – that’s about doing the same or better, building better public services with the money we’ve got available, doing it in a way that gets the money to the right points in the system.
“Making sure that we’re joining up different services across different agencies in different parts of government so that the service user, the citizen, when they engage with the public sector, are getting the best service delivered to them.
“And the people that work in that service have got full, fulfilling, impactful roles as a consequence of better organisation of how we go about delivering those services.”
His appointment comes as Scotland’s auditor general previously said ministers lacked a clear plan to deal with a £4.7 billion funding gap by 2029-30.
Mr McKee has said that he will focus on “reorganisation of delivery bodies and joining up the circles”.
He continued: “It’s about making the money work best, so it’s about getting the money to the right place. We’ve made no secret of the fact that money needs to move to frontline service delivery.
“Those roles would be increasing over the coming period and it’s about making sure we’re using other mechanisms, be that digitisation and automation, be it reorganisation of delivery bodies and joining up the circles.
“Because if you talk to any member of the public, or indeed anybody that works in public sector, they will tell you from a daily experience things that don’t work properly.”
While at the Scotland 2050 conference, Mr McKee was asked what his vision is for where public services will be in the next decade.
He said: “A decade’s too long, we need to be making significant differences in the course of this parliament and we need to get off to a very strong start on that.
“What that looks like is from the experience of the service user that means when you engage with public services, they do what it says on the tin.
“They deliver those services, be it health and education, be it on transport, be it on justice, be it whatever, they do it in an efficient way.
“They do it effectively and quickly, and you are frankly delighted with those services, not frustrated with them, that is the measure of success.”