The Scottish Executive released on 8 September its departments 'revised' plans to improve efficiency, which now bring their total identified savings up to €1.85bn (£1.25bn). The new boost comes from 'time-releasing savings' published for the first time.
Across the board these add up to €500m (£337m), with around half of the total coming from the health and community care sector alone.
The downside is that the current figure falls well short of the €890m (£600m) aspired to by 2007-8.
Tom McCabe, Scotland's minister for finance and public service reform, downplayed the significance of this and said the Executive would still aim to meet its ambitious target.
He said in a statement: 'We will only publish targets and figures when we are convinced they are robust and crucially, when we are convinced we can deliver.'
The new figures announced are the latest development in the Executive's Efficient Government initiative, its version of Whitehall's Efficiency Review.
Both cost-cutting exercises have the stated aim of freeing up more resources to the front-line.
The Executive's original efficiency target, announced in June 2004, was €740m (£500m) of savings by 2007-8.
Last November this was increased to a figure of at least €1,100m (£745m) of annual recurring cash-releasing efficiency savings, plus a minimum €445m (£300m) of time-releasing savings by 2007-8 – hopefully reaching €890m (£600m) as the aspirational goal.
As in Whitehall, the Scottish Executive has published Efficiency Technical Notes describing how departments will contribute towards the overall efficiency target.
The Executive's ETN for September sets out the major projects forecast to save over €740,000 (£500,000) in both cash and time releasing terms.
Highlights include:
- Plans to e-enable the Executive's human resources functions by 2006/7
- A major business change project to standardising electronic record and document management through the Scottish Executive
- A €60 (£40m) investment in a Scottish Schools Digital Network and Content Delivery infrastructure to allow teachers better access to electronic resources
- A Scottish Enterprise Business Transformation programme, including use of Customer Relationship Management systems and managed ICT services
- E-procurement and forestry grant e-application projects in partnership with the Forestry Commission of Great Britain
- Possible reduction of emergency control fire rooms in Scotland from eight to one
- Scottish local authorities' 'Customer First' programme, which sets out to improve call centre access channels and take-up of e-government services.
Quelle: DMeurope, 15.09.2005
