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Public sector reform
17/06/2009
Simplification of public services is saving money while boosting frontline staff, Finance Secretary John Swinney said today.
Today's public sector employment statistics show:
- The number of staff employed in the NHS is up 3,600 (2.3 per cent) since quarter 1 (Q1) 2008, to 160,500
- Excluding the NHS, the number of people employed in Scottish Government supported agencies, NDPBs and other significant national bodies has reduced by 500 (2 per cent) since 2007
- The number of people working in police and related services increased by 800 (3.4 per cent) over the year
Finance Secretary John Swinney said:
"We are making public services simpler, better co-ordinated and more responsive - crucial to support Scotland's economic recovery.
"As part of our simplification programme, we have reduced the number of bodies from 199 to 162, and the Public Services Reform Bill and forthcoming Children's Hearings Bill will shrink that to around 120 bodies by 2011.
"Since 2007, there are more frontline staff in the NHS and people working in our police services, while the number of staff in other bodies that are part of the simplification programme has reduced by 500. Figures published last month showed that our actions are saving taxpayers £127 million between 2008 and 2013, with annual savings expected to be over £40 million thereafter.
"We are going in the right direction and making our public services better focussed on improving the lives of the people of Scotland."
SIMPLIFICATION PROGRAMME
The Scottish Government is committed to simplifying the public sector landscape by bringing together organisations with similar skills, expertise and processes.
The Scottish Government published a baseline list of 199 national public sector organisations and set out proposals as part of the Simplification Programme to reduce this number by 25 per cent by 2011. The number of bodies has already reduced to 162.
Separate statistics collected by ISD Scotland and published in December 2008 showed that overall increases in levels of NHS staff were due to increases in front-line jobs (nurses, doctors, dentists).