The Scottish Government

1. Portfolio/Number/Name:Perm Sec - Admin / 1 / Central Administration

2. Programme/Activity:

Savings in the Administration Budget of the Scottish Government through better staff deployment and a reduction in non-staff cost expenditure.

3. Efficiency

3.1 Current target; £m

2008-09

2009-10

2010-11

Cash

4.8

9.6

14.4

3.2 Efficiencies delivered; £m

2008-09

2009-10

2010-11

Cash

Time

4. Accountable Officer for delivery

5. Project Manager

6. EGDD Portfolio Manager

7.1 What is the efficiency improvement? How will the efficiencies be made?

These efficiency improvements comprise a number of changes across all Scottish Government Directorates where staffing reductions and savings in non-staff costs will be made without affecting the output of the Directorates. The savings will principally be made through working more efficiently across the Government as a whole, allowing for staff reductions in certain areas. Targeted early retirement schemes such as the one currently under way combined with natural wastage should allow any surplus staff to exit the organisation in a cost efficient manner. Other staff and non-staff savings will arise as a result of the simplification of the public sector landscape and from the outcome based agreement with Local Government. There will be at least £1.7m in recyclable administration savings made as a result of the functions of Communities Scotland being brought in to the core Scottish Government as part of the simplification process.

Non-staff costs savings will include efficiencies made as a result of improvements in the utilisation of the Scottish Government estate. This will involve taking over Atlantic Quay as the main Scottish Government building in Glasgow and co-locating SG staff with the corporate leadership of Scottish Enterprise. This will allow the SG to vacate Meridian Court and either Europa Building or Highlander House. The financial benefits, by way of reduced accommodation costs are calculated to be considerable but it too early to put an exact figure on the amount and the timing of the savings. One immediate saving however would be the avoidance of the cost of the Meridian Court refurbishment estimated at between £5.5m and £7m.

Other non staff cost savings include a continuing focus on reducing staff Travel and Subsistence costs through promotion of more effective and environmentally friendly modes of travel and greater use of video conferencing facilities. In addition robust procurement processes will continue to deliver extremely competitive prices for catering, cleaning and other services such as waste management. An example of this is newly signed catering contract which has frozen the level of subsidy paid and the prices charged for 2008-09.

7.2 What are the main actions that are needed to secure the delivery of this efficiency improvement?

Directorates General are drawing up illustrations that indicate where they will make efficiency savings in the period to 31 March 2011. These are being turned into a Delivery Plan that will provide information on each of the efficiency savings that individual Directorates will make. Each Directorate is responsible for taking the action required to deliver the efficiency saving.

The savings that will arise from the accommodation strategy are dependant on the timing of the decision to move Scottish Enterprise staff from Atlantic Quay.

8.1 Are there any development or redundancy costs associated with the delivery of this efficiency?

There may be some costs associated with the efficiencies arising from the simplification of the delivery landscape, but as yet these have not been fully quantified.

9.1 What are the inputs that will be measured?

There are a variety of inputs that are being measured, the most common of which is expenditure in the area where the efficiency is to be made.

9.2 What are the outputs that will be measured?

There are a variety of outputs from the individual Directorates making the efficiency improvements and it is not possible to measure them all. However, the volume of outputs from Directorates as a whole are not expected to fall as a result of making the savings.

9.3 What is the baseline for inputs and outputs?

The baseline for measuring inputs is the Administration expenditure for 2007-08.

10.1 What quality indicators are being used to ensure that quality of service is maintained or improved?

The outputs from Directorates are wide and varied, including areas such as the development of policy, through to providing Ministers with draft answers to Parliamentary Questions. Quality indicators would therefore include the time taken to respond to Parliamentary Questions and Ministerial Correspondence.

11.1 What are the arrangements for monitoring the delivery of efficiencies?

Each Directorate is responsible for monitoring the delivery of their own efficiency savings. The SG Administration Finance Team is responsible for monitoring the delivery of the total efficiency savings from the Administration budget.

12.1 What are the arrangements for reporting the delivery of efficiencies?

A quarterly progress report will be requested from Directorates by the Administration Finance Team. These will form the basis of a report to the People and Business Innovation Group.

13.1 Explain if your efficiencies are dependent on legislation or other structural changes being achieved.

There are no significant dependencies for these savings to be achieved.

14.1 How are the efficiencies released from improvement activity being used to improve services?

These efficiencies were assumed as part of the budget allocated by the Scottish Government for Administration. This freed up resources for Ministers to allocate to their priorities.