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The Scottish Executive: Draft Budget 2004-05 Summary

Chapter 12 Scottish Executive Administration and Associated Departments

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.

OBJECTIVES AND TARGETS

Objective 1: To enable Ministers to deliver the Executive's priorities for better public services.

• Target 1: Complete implementation of the Executive's Changing to Deliver programme and action plan during 2004.
• Target 2: Undertake a rolling programme of Best Value reviews, with all departmental activity to be examined by 2006.

Objective 2: To ensure that the organisation is accountable and responsive.

• Target 3: Deliver continuous improvement in performance on response times for Parliamentary Questions and Ministerial Correspondence, and conform with new Freedom of Information requirements.

Objective 3: To ensure that the organisation is modern and efficient, taking full advantage of developments in information technology.

• Target 4: Implement electronic record and document management system by 2005-06. This will help us meet our commitments and obligations under Freedom of Information; make it easier to share information; and offer more efficient ways of storing and retrieving information.

Objective 4: To ensure the organisation is open and diverse.

• Target 5: By 31 March 2005 increase the percentage of:
  • women in senior positions in the workforce to 48% in Band B, 43% in Band C and 30% in the Senior Civil Service (SCS);
  • staff from minority ethnic communities in the workforce to 1.7% across the Executive (i.e. SCS and Band C as well as Bands A and B); and
  • staff with disabilities in the workforce to 5% in Band A, 3.2% in Band B, 1.4% in Band C and 3% across the SCS.

Spending plans 2003-06

Table 12.01 Spending plans (level 2)

Our spending on administration also includes the administration costs in our core 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.

What the budget does

The administration budget covers the costs of running the Scottish Executive. These are 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 Building a Better Scotland and other documents. Despite the growth in output, total spending on administration as a proportion of the total budget has fallen steadily since 1999-2000.

We are committed to delivering further improvements over the 2003-06 period. We will build on past achievements and strive for continuous improvement in delivering better public services. We are driving forward a further major step in our culture change through the Changing to Deliver programme to make our internal working methods more responsive to the needs of Ministers, staff and external stakeholders. 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. We will continue to invest in modernisation of key corporate systems such as Human Resources and Records Management. As part of our commitment to provide better joined-up public services, we will establish an integrated Family History Research Service available online and at Register House in Edinburgh.

Our key resource is our staff and the Executive has again been successful in the assessment against the Investors in People standard. This was our fourth review as an Investor in People (IiP) since, as the Scottish Office in 1997, we became the first entire Government Department to gain IiP status. It reflects our continuing success in providing staff with the learning and development opportunities that allow us to deliver our business priorities. Meeting the standard confirms our good practice in leadership, communication and clarity of purpose. Importantly, it also highlights the enthusiasm of staff at all levels in the Executive to respond to these opportunities to improve their knowledge and the way that we work.

We have also tackled issues of low pay at the most junior levels of the organisation, and reduced recruitment difficulties and staff turnover which were hampering efficiency; and will continue to address recruitment and retention issues through our pay structures, within the overall discipline of the commitment to continue the reduction of administration costs as a proportion of the total budget.

Portfolio priorities

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 Ministers have agreed, in particular those set out in the Partnership Agreement. As part of this change agenda we will:

• drive forward a plan for continuous improvement. Since 2002, the Executive has been working initially with the Office of Public Service Reform to develop the Changing to Deliver programme for culture change within the organisation. This is a 2 year programme aimed at:
  • achieving a step change in the culture and behaviour of the organisation to match the requirements of the period of the second Parliament;
  • transforming the way we engage with stakeholders and designing policies and services around customer needs; and
  • improving internal corporate governance and management systems.
• introduce a rolling programme of Best Value reviews over the next 3 years. The reviews will:
  • identify 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.
• 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. We are investing in two major new IT systems - the electronics records management and human resources intranet projects.
• 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.
• establish a "one-stop shop" for research into family history through support for the ScotlandsPeople project.

Closing the opportunity gap

Challenging targets have been set to increase the diversity of our workforce. These cover women in senior positions, staff from minority ethnic communities and staff with disabilities. We have already put in place a range of measures to ensure we meet these targets. For example, we regularly recruit externally: around 500 staff were externally recruited in 2002-03. We are taking action to encourage flexible working and better work-life balance: over 700 staff currently work part time. Since December 2000 we have been running an Outreach Project to encourage applications for employment from the minority ethnic community. This will be expanded to include disabled people later this year.

Sustainable development

Our improvement programme includes plans to implement an Environmental Management System (EMS) across the Executive estate in order to monitor and help to continue reducing our environmental impact. Other key challenges will be to meet our revised Greening Government targets in key areas like energy consumption, waste and transport.

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