The Scottish Government published its draft Budget proposals for 2011-12. Key measures included: an agreement with local authorities to deliver a further council tax freeze, while maintaining police numbers and key education and social care commitments; protecting spending on running health services in Scotland and abolishing remaining prescription charges; a pay freeze for public sector workers, with staff earning less than £21,000 per year receiving a minimum annual pay increase of £250.
Source: Scotland's Spending Plans and Draft Budget 2011-12, Scottish Government
Links: Report | Equality Statement | Official Report | Scottish Government press release | SNP press release | CIH Scotland press release | CIPFA press release | COSLA press release | PCS press release | PRTC press release | SCVO press release | Guardian report | Inside Housing report | Community Care report | Public Finance report | Times Higher Education report | Museums Journal report
Date: 2010-Nov
An advisory group report examined ways to improve the equality analysis of future budgets and spending decisions by the Scottish Government.
Source: Equality and Budget Advisory Group, Equality Analysis in the Budget and Spending Review 2011 Onwards, Scottish Government
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Nov
A report examined the economic and social challenges facing Scotland's public services. It said that innovation – developing new approaches that were better at preventing and solving problems for and with citizens – was critical to making sustainable savings in public services and to ensuring a stronger, safer, healthier, and more productive Scotland.
Source: Laura Bunt and Michael Harris, with Ruth Puttick, Radical Scotland: Confronting the challenges facing Scotland's public services, National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts
Links: Report | Public Finance report | BBC report
Date: 2010-Oct
The Scottish Government published a new strategy designed to make it easier for businesses and individuals to access advice and support on skills.
Source: Skills for Scotland: Accelerating the recovery and increasing sustainable economic growth, Scottish Government
Links: Strategy | Scottish Government press release | ASSCS press release
Date: 2010-Oct
An article examined 'statistically significant' differences between public service outcomes in England, Scotland, and Wales. Differences were attributable, at least in part, to policy divergence in the three countries since devolution in 1999 – with implications for assessments of the impacts of devolution and public service reform strategies.
Source: Rhys Andrews and Steve Martin, 'Regional variations in public service outcomes: the impact of policy divergence in England, Scotland and Wales', Regional Studies, Volume 44 Number 8
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Oct
An audit report in Scotland examined the governance arrangements of National Health Service and other public sector bodies. Accountability could be complex, with chief executives and boards reporting in different ways to the Scottish Government, ministers, and the Scottish Parliament. This risked causing confusion about who led an organization and was responsible for its decisions.
Source: The Role Of Boards, Audit Scotland for Accounts Commission and Auditor General
Links: Report | Audit Scotland press release
Date: 2010-Oct
A paper examined the incidence of training and the intensity of off-the-job training at establishments in Scotland, making use of the 2008 Scottish Employers Skills Survey.
Source: John Sutherland, Training Incidence and Training Intensity: An analysis of the 2008 Scottish Employers Skills Survey, Working Paper 23, Centre for Public Policy for Regions/University of Glasgow
Links: Paper
Date: 2010-Jul
A paper examined the impact that raising the minimum level of public sector pay in Scotland would have on the share of national income received by those on the lowest incomes. It then examined the effects that raising the wages of low-paid groups would have on disposable household incomes, by looking at the interaction between wages and the tax and benefits systems.
Source: Low Pay and Income Inequality in Scotland, Scottish Government
Links: Paper
Date: 2010-Jul
The report of an independent panel in Scotland outlined a series of options for delivering public services within a significantly constrained public expenditure environment.
Source: Independent Budget Review, Independent Budget Review Panel
Links: Report | Review press release | SNP press release | UNISON press release | Community Care report | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Jul
A report examined the community benefit generated through the delivery of the (previous Labour) government's 'Future Jobs Fund' in Scotland. (The Fund was an employment programme designed to create additional jobs, primarily aimed at unemployed young people aged 18-24.)
Source: Hannah Jordan, Future Jobs: Future Communities, Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Jul
A report by a committee of MSPs said that efforts by public sector leaders to prepare for forthcoming budget cuts were 'patchy and lacking in urgency'.
Source: Budget Strategy Phase, 4th Report 2010, SP Paper 455, Scottish Parliament Finance Committee
Links: Report | Scottish Parliament press release
Date: 2010-Jun
A report called for the employment and support allowance to be reviewed. It said that thousands of seriously sick and disabled people in Scotland had been put under pressure to find work or lose their benefit. Around 70 per cent of appeals against assessments under the allowance had been successful.
Source: Keith Dryburgh, Unfit for Purpose, Citizens Advice Scotland
Links: Report | Community Care report | BBC report
Date: 2010-May
The Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 was given Royal assent. The Act was designed to remove overlap and duplication in public services in Scotland, and to provide greater clarity for service users and improved service delivery.
Source: Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010, Scottish Government/TSO
Links: Text of Act | Scottish Government press release
Date: 2010-Apr
The Scottish National Party published its manifesto for the 2010 general election. It set out plans for the creation of 60,000 green energy jobs in the next decade, and called for Scotland to be included in the first phase of plans for high-speed rail. It also outlined the key public services that the party was intent on protecting from the 'cuts agenda' of the United Kingdom-wide political parties.
Source: Elect a Local Champion: Manifesto 2010, Scottish National Party
Links: Manifesto | SNP press release | NASUWT press release | Telegraph report | BBC report | Scotsman report
Date: 2010-Apr
The Scottish Parliament approved a Bill designed to remove overlap and duplication in public services in Scotland, and to provide greater clarity for service users and improved service delivery.
Source: Public Services Reform (Scotland) Bill, Scottish Government/TSO | Scottish Parliament Debate 25 March 2010, columns 25002-25083, Official Report/TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Briefing | Official Report | Scottish Government press release
Date: 2010-Mar
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on the enforcement of the national minimum wage in Scotland.
Source: Enforcement of the National Minimum Wage in Scotland: Government Response to the Committee's Sixth Report of Session 2008-09, Second Special Report (Session 2009-10), HC 318, House of Commons Scottish Affairs Select Committee/TSO
Links: Response | MPs report
Date: 2010-Feb
A report called for a wide debate about the future shape of public service delivery in Scotland, and for a rolling programme of public sector reform.
Source: The Future of Public Services Reform in Scotland, SOLACE (Scotland)
Links: Report | SOLACE press release
Date: 2010-Feb
A report (by an official advisory body) examined the barriers to the development of skills in Scotland. Relative to other industrialized nations, Scotland had too few businesses in high-skill, high-value-added industries, and was creating too few high-skilled jobs. Too many young people failed to gain the essential and lower-level skills needed to progress in work. Existing employment and skills systems in Scotland were neither fully integrated and consistent nor always sufficiently aligned to labour market needs.
Source: Towards Ambition 2020: Skills, Jobs, Growth for Scotland, UK Commission for Employment and Skills
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Feb
The Scottish Government published a framework designed to support disabled people into paid work.
Source: A Working Life for All Disabled People: The Supported Employment Framework for Scotland – Main report, Scottish Government
Links: Report | Summary | Scottish Government press release
Date: 2010-Feb