The need for change in public service delivery is obvious

There is no doubting that Scotland stands at a crossroads.  As the country moves towards the referendum next year, the political environment in the nation has become understandably fixated on the battle over Scotland’s constitutional future. Yet is this debate, engaging as it is, holding us back from debating other non-constitutional matters which have just as great an impact on the daily lives of Scots? In 2011, the Christie Commission published its final recommendations on the future of public service delivery in Scotland. This report recognised the challenges public services face in Scotland during a period of financial austerity, rising needs and stubbornly high inequality. While the debate around public service reform in England has often seemed reduced to battle lines of more or less markets and private provision, the Christie Commission’s recommendations present a more collaborative and consensual approach. Unfortunately, two years on, the commission’s recommendations have been largely side-lined. The local government and regeneration committee of the Scottish Parliament noted in its final report this year that “[the] overall conclusion is that well-intended efforts to pursue public service reform are not yet delivering the scale, nature or rate of change that is needed”. Lack of progress There may be two key reasons behind this lack of progress. Firstly, while the pressures now facing public services should be the inspiration for soul searching and innovation, human nature being what it is, there is a natural tendency in times of difficulty to hunker down and hope to ride out the storm. Second, the constitutional debate has left all parts of the political spectrum wary of making potentially controversial propositions in case they weaken the case for or against independence. Even when the need for change is obvious, the fear is that it is the messenger will be shot. I think there is an opportunity in Scotland to go further in three key pieces of work:

• A Public Services Academy: a collaborative resource to bring together the best practice and thinking from around the globe to develop world-leading public servants in Scotland. Public service should be seen as an admirable vocation and an academy of this nature could both create a vibrant, innovative public sector for Scotland and a resource of skills and knowledge which could be exported outside Scotland’s borders.
• A review of Scotland’s Local Authority boundaries: despite living outside Scotland, I am aware of how much controversy is attached to this concept. However, given the growing evidence of the importance of collaboration and resource-sharing between cities and towns and their surrounding areas there is surely something counter-productive about, for example, the boundary around Glasgow. Given the RSA’s status as an international organisation working in Scotland, I wonder whether we can encourage a less parochial perspective towards the spatial dimension of governance and regeneration.
• Christie 2.0: We can be overwhelmed with reports, published with a fanfare only to gather dust on civil servants’ bookshelves. Yet there is surely a need to build upon the excellent work of the original Christie Commission. It successfully identified the areas in which Scotland needs to reform and now is the time to fill in the account of the journey of change which needs to be embarked upon.

Public service reform is a challenge and any new approach carries risk, a big ask in such a difficult environment. Yet, Scotland has been a public service innovator before and with political will, thought leadership and practical innovation, it can be again.  Scotland will best rise to this opportunity if different segments of society work together in open and collaborative ways – we at the RSA stand ready to rise to this challenge, and are ready to talk to anyone else who shares our ambition.