| Description | The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth, John Swinney, commissioned a Review of public sector Asset Management which, in the first instance, should focus only on the Scottish Government estate. The aim was to consider the current status and quality of the management of our buildings and land. In doing so the Review has sought to establish the facts and identify the anomalies, weaknesses and opportunities to bring about the more efficient and effective use of of our estate. |
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| ISBN | (Web Only) |
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| Official Print Publication Date | |
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| Website Publication Date | January 28, 2008 |
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Executive Summary
Scottish Ministers have, and pay for, an extensive and valuable estate of buildings and adjacent land, with a wide variety of types, uses, sizes, costs and management arrangements. Ministers cannot be assured that, under current arrangements, all or most of the Scottish Government estate is efficiently and effectively managed. We need to get to a position where, while respecting the arm's length status and particular remit of individual organisations that have evolved within the Scottish Government, each and every part of the estate will:
· Have an Asset Management Plan in place for the current and future assets of an organisation, which ties their planned use to the known and anticipated operational and support requirements of that organisation, and to the wider interests of Scottish Government.
· Adhere to Scottish Public Finance Manual (SPFM) principles, use the Scottish Public Sector Property website and consult Scottish Government Property Advice Division's (PAD) professional expertise, to ensure a secure and consistent system for acquiring, managing, rationalising and disposing of property (see Annex F - Glossary of Terms ).
· Maintain and update its property management information on a single database for the Scottish Government estate (electronic Property Information Mapping Service (e-PIMS) or eventual successor).
· Meet a core set of output measures on property performance and undertake regular performance benchmarking in order to challenge their own costs when they appear to exceed recognised agreed parameters/norms.
· Identify efficiency savings to be made from their property costs and retain those savings for re-investment in better services.
In addition, there should be a further Review of the issues regarding undeveloped land within the management remit of the rural and environmental agencies.