1. Portfolio/Number/Name:A/C5 - Savings from non-staff costs and better staff deployment |
2. Programme/Activity: Savings in the administration budget of the Scottish Executive through a reduction in non-staff costs expenditure and better staff deployment. |
3. Efficiency | 3.1 Current target; £m | | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 |
Cash | 0.4 | 5.0 | 5.3 |
Time | 0 | 0 | 0 |
3.2 Efficiencies delivered; £m | | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 |
Cash | 0.439 | - | - |
Time | 0 | - | - |
4. Accountable Officer for delivery | John Elvidge |
5. Project Manager | Nicola Fisher |
6. EGDD Portfolio Manager | Rowena Simpson |
7. Description of efficiency and actions to be taken | 7.1 What is the efficiency improvement? How will the efficiencies be made? These efficiency improvements comprise a number of changes across all Executive Departments where non-staff costs and staffing reductions will be made without affecting the output of the Department. The savings will be made through reducing non-staff costs such as stationery and travel and subsistence and through working more efficiently allowing for staffing reductions in certain areas and the releasing of staff time for other duties. |
7.2 What are the main actions that are needed to secure the delivery of this efficiency improvement? Each Department has drawn up an efficiency savings illustration that indicates where they will make efficiency savings in the period up to 2007-08. This is being turned into a Delivery Plan, which provides information on each of the efficiency savings that the Department will make. Each Department is responsible for taking the action required to deliver the efficiency saving. It is unlikely that savings can be confined entirely to non-staff costs and so illustrations seek to achieve the best fit between work priorities and the deployment of staff. |
8. Associated costs | 8.1 Are there any development or redundancy costs associated with the delivery of this efficiency? There are no costs associated with the delivery of these efficiency savings. No redundancies are expected from this with staffing reductions being achieved through targeted recruitment and natural turnover. |
9. Measurement | 9.1 What are the inputs that will be measured? There are a variety of inputs that are being measured for each initiative, although generally the expenditure of the area making the efficiency improvement is the input that is being measured. |
9.2 What are the outputs that will be measured? There are a variety of outputs from the Departments making the efficiency improvements and it is not possible to measure all of these outputs. However, the volume of outputs from the Departments as a whole, and the areas within the Departments making the efficiency savings, is not expected to fall. |
9.3 What is the baseline for inputs and outputs? The baseline for inputs is Departmental expenditure in 2004-05. |
10. Quality cross-check | 10.1 What quality indicators are being used to ensure that quality of service is maintained or improved? The outputs from Departments range from the development of policy through to providing Ministers with draft answers to Parliamentary Questions. Quality indicators include the monitoring of the implementation of Partnership Agreement commitments and the time taken to respond to Parliamentary Questions and Ministerial Correspondence. |
11. Monitoring | 11.1 What are the arrangements for monitoring the delivery of efficiencies? Each Department is responsible for monitoring the delivery of efficiency savings. The Scottish Executive's Administration Finance Team is responsible for monitoring the delivery of the total efficiency savings. |
12. Reporting | 12.1 What are the arrangements for reporting the delivery of efficiencies? Departments report progress on the delivery of efficiency savings to the Administration Finance Team quarterly. A report is then provided to the People and Innovation Group. |
13. Dependencies | 13.1 Explain if your efficiencies are dependent on legislation or other structural changes being achieved. There are no significant dependencies for the achievement of these savings. |
14. Use of efficiencies | 14.1 How are the efficiencies released from improvement activity being used to improve front-line services? The efficiency savings released from this project will help the Scottish Executive to live within the flat cash settlement it received from the Spending Review. By not increasing the administration budget in line with inflation, resources were freed up for Ministers to spend on other priorities. |