SCOTLAND
A Parliamentary report has slammed the quality of public services in Scotland, highlighting instances of wasted money, expensive and unnecessary payoffs to departing staff and poor delivery.
The report, from the seven-person Public Audit Committee, comprising Members of the Scottish Parliament, highlighted instances of unacceptably poor governance and squandering of public money.
It found no evidence that additional cash put into childcare and early learning had improved the quality of service or outcomes.
“There is no national data on school attendances and it is impossible to discover how much is spent on young people’s mental health services and whether it is effective,” the report said.
“A multiplicity of planning layers in the National Health Service, including new ones, has led to a lack of clarity about what they do.”
It said health service governance was “confusing”.
The report said severance packages to some departing senior staff were “a reward for failure”.
Chair of the Committee, Jenny Marra said it had looked at 50 reports “and we become increasingly frustrated to see the same issues arise again and again”.
“Unless the Scottish Government and other public sector leaders begin to significantly address the problems we have highlighted, then the same issues will continue to impact public services,” Ms Marra said.
The report noted a series of high-profile IT failures and concluded that public sector organisations embarking on new projects rarely had the right skills and experience and instead relied on outside consultants.
On Scotland’s superfast broadband program, which was set up to provide support to rural communities, the report said there was a lack of procurement and technical skills and all of the parties involved had underestimated the complexities.
Edinburgh, 1 September 2019
