A number of bodies scrutinising public services will be abolished or merged to bring greater consistency and free up staff for frontline duties.
There will be a single scrutiny body looking at health services, and a single body scrutinising care and social work.
The moves are in line with the Government's intention to simplify the public sector landscape and improve public services following the Crerar report.
Among the changes outlined by Finance Secretary John Swinney to the Scottish Parliament are:
- A new health scrutiny body will bring together the functions of NHS Quality Improvement Scotland and the Mental Welfare Commission, and the scrutiny of independent healthcare currently undertaken by the Care Commission
- A single body will look at care and social work, taking on the functions of Social Work Inspectorate Agency, the Care Commission and HMIE's current responsibilities for child protection
- Complaints handling will be simplified. The Government will discuss with the Parliament whether complaints about the water industry and from prisoners could be handled by Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO). This would lead to the abolition of Waterwatch; water customers would be represented by Consumer Focus (formerly the Scottish Consumer Council).
John Swinney said:
"In the current economic climate, it is more important than ever that all public services actively contribute to increasing sustainable economic growth. We need every ounce of effort to go on delivering first class public services.
"The changes I am announcing today will remove unnecessary burdens on staff, free up their time to focus on delivering public services and benefit people who use them.
"We will tackle the complex, and occasionally arbitrary, structures where too much time is absorbed in crossing organisational boundaries, getting in the way of efficient and effective services. In reducing the burden of scrutiny, however, we will always ensure we protect the interests of all members of society.
"We have a number of bodies working to join up but it is hard for the public to see who is looking holistically at the services they receive.
"In future we will have a single body looking at health, ensuring a greater consistency of scrutiny. A single body focussing on care and social work will look at links in the support chain, from the local authority to service delivery for individuals.
"And HMIE will maintain their focus on raising educational standards, stimulating improvement and promoting self evaluation while also continuing to ensure that education works with other services to support the development and wellbeing of all children in Scotland."
There are currently 29 scrutiny bodies. The changes announced reduce the baseline list to 23 bodies. It is anticipated that the Parliament's ad-hoc committee will look at opportunities for joining up existing functions which may lead to further reductions.
Source: Scottish Government News Release
