The Scottish Government

« Previous | Contents |

Listen

Building a Better Scotland

ADMINISTRATION

To be an organisation that supports Ministers effectively, is focused on the efficient delivery of better public services, and is perceived by its stakeholders to be modern and well run

The administration budget covers the costs of running the Scottish Executive. This is primarily staffing and associated costs such as accommodation and training. The aim of the organisation is to support Ministers effectively, with a particular focus on the efficient delivery of better public services.

The organisation has changed dramatically since devolution. Much has been achieved including the delivering of an ambitious legislative programme. We have greatly expanded our programme of policy development, consultation and implementation as part of delivering the Executive's targets as set out in Programme for Government and other documents. Despite the growth in output, total spending on administration as a proportion of the total budget has fallen steadily since 1999-00.

We are committed to delivering further improvements over the Spending Review period. We will build on past achievements and strive for continuous improvement in delivering better public services. We are driving forward a plan for continuous improvement through the Changing to Deliver initiative. We will use a comprehensive programme of Best Value reviews to focus on improving the way we work.

We are committed to modernisation and reform and investment in our IT infrastructure is a key priority. As part of our commitment to provide better joined-up public services, we will create an integrated Family History Research Service available on line and at Register House in Edinburgh. We will continue to invest in the development of our staff and modernise key corporate systems like Human Resources and Records Management.

We are committed to promoting equality in our policies and budgets. As an employer, we aim to continue to improve the diversity of the people we employ to better reflect the population of Scotland. Progress has been made in all under-represented areas of our workforce but we recognise that further improvement is needed to help us value and manage Scotland's diversity and to use all of its talents to benefit all sectors of our society.

OBJECTIVES AND TARGETS

What we will do

We have grown the organisation since 1999 to allow us to respond effectively to new challenges and responsibilities. The emphasis for the period ahead will be to prioritise what we do and where necessary reshape the organisation to ensure our resources are aligned with the key delivery priorities. As part of this change agenda we will:

• continue to develop our information systems and technology over the period to 2005-06 in ways that will enable the Executive to meet its electronic service delivery targets. Over the Spending Review period we will invest in two major new IT systems - the electronics records management and human resources intranet projects;
• introduce a rolling programme of Best Value reviews over the next three years. The reviews will:
  • be aimed at identifying whether there are alternative ways of organising and carrying out our work to ensure that it is done both to a higher standard and more efficiently;
  • take into account systematically the views of Ministers, external and internal customers and stakeholders; and
  • consider how work within the Executive impacts on and meshes with the work of others, notably those who have to deliver and implement our policies, what customers think of the service we provide, and how they think it could be improved.
• further reduce the total spending on administration as a proportion of the total budget by 2005-06;
• deliver efficiency savings of 3.7 million a year by 2005-06;
• implement an Environmental Management System (EMS) in a further 12 buildings by December 2003 in order to monitor and ultimately reduce our environmental impact. Revised targets in key areas, like energy consumption, for future years will be included in the next annual report on Greening the Executive;
• set challenging targets to increase the diversity of our workforce covering women in senior positions, staff from minority ethnic communities and staff with disabilities; and
• establish a Scottish Family History Service (SFHS) to provide a "one-stop shop" for research into family history.

Spending Plans

Notes:
Our spending on administration also includes the administration costs in our core departments and associated departments:

• the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) ( http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk ), which records population information such as census statistics, registers vital events (births, deaths, marriages, divorces and adoptions), and conducts civil marriages;
• the National Archives of Scotland (NAS) ( http://www.nas.gov.uk ) , which selects, preserves and makes available the national archives of Scotland, for example government, court and legal, historical and private records; and
• Registers of Scotland (RoS) ( http://www.ros.gov.uk ), which compiles, maintains and provides public access to registers and records relating to rights in land, family agreements, succession, trusts, state appointments, and diligence and sequestration.

« Previous | Contents |