The Scottish Government

Workstreams

There are 5 specific workstreams arising from the Efficient Government Plan that are considered to be important in creating a more efficient public sector. These are: managing absence; asset management; procurement; shared support services; and streamlining bureaucracy. Many of the efficiency savings identified in the Efficient Government Plan come from these types of activity and these themes are being explored in more detail in order to create a more efficient public sector.

Absence Management

The Scottish Executive's Efficient Government Programme recognises that all public sector organisations need to have effective strategies for managing sickness absence. These strategies should be enforced through robust policies and procedures which address any work-related causes of ill-health and support staff experiencing illness to assist their return to work. It is important that all organisations monitor and report employee sickness absence and take action to prevent abuse.

To provide expert advice and guidance, a short term Absence Management Steering Group was established (October 2005 to January 2007). The membership of the Steering Group can be viewed through the following link: Absence Management Steering Group

Part of this work involved the collation of published sickness absence data across the public sector. This data, summarised in March 2007, can be viewed here

Asset Management

Good asset management is a vital part of being an efficient and effective organisation. Good asset management should include a strategy for dealing with acquisitions, disposals, lease negotiation and asset maintenance. This should be based on business and customer service delivery needs, as the right assets in the right place can make the difference between good and poor service delivery. The Scottish Government's Efficiency programme cites the better management of assets by all parts of government as a key element in the drive for efficiency gains. There is no specific target of the level of efficiencies to be generated by improved asset management, however many individual projects contain gains derived activities to bring about the more effective and efficient use of our estate.

Asset Management Review

John Swinney, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth, commissioned a Review of the management of central government's land and buildings. It was a 'short, sharp Review' to establish the facts and identify the anomalies, weaknesses and opportunities in the management of our own estate.

Jim Mackinnon, the Scottish Government's Chief Planner, oversaw the Review, in this he was supported by Hilary Pearce as Project Manager.

The purpose of the Review was to consider the current status and quality of the management of our buildings and land, with two primary aims:

• To clarify precisely what the Scottish Government estate consists of, and who has control of and influence over estate management and accommodation decisions, estate management and financial accountability in relation to assets across the government estate.
• To recommend actions to achieve management improvements and inform future policy direction for the government estate.

To gather this information a two part survey questionnaire was sent to all parts of Scottish Government. The Review team provided Mr Swinney with its initial findings and key recommendations at the end of December 2007.

The Review report was published on 28 January 2008 and can be viewed and downloaded from here - http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/01/AMR

Efficient Government recognises there are major gains to be made from promoting better procurement practice across the public sector in Scotland. In particular, the Efficient Government Plan identifies savings arising from the use of eProcurement and public sector bodies joining together to maximise purchasing power through collaborative buying. Using eProcurement generates immediate savings through more efficient processes; improves management information so that buying decisions are better targeted to meet cost and policy objectives; and supports coordinated purchasing between different organisations.

The Scottish Procurement Directorate (SPD) is responsible for procurement policy and for promoting and advising on procurement issues. It provides the tools and support to public sector bodies to enable them to improve their procurement processes. One tool is the eProcurement Scotland service. eProcurement Scotland (ePS) is a fully hosted and managed 24 x 7 eProcurement service which supports the full purchase to pay cycle providing a range of services including e-sourcing (electronic tendering and auctions) and transactional purchase to pay solutions. Further information on SPD and ePS, can be found though the following links:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/Procurement

http://www.eprocurementscotland.com/

Streamlining Bureaucracy

Streamlining bureaucracy will contribute to public sector reform by striking a new balance between the need for accountability and the need for efficiency. Accountability and scrutiny are important but do not have to be as bureaucratic as they are. A co-ordinated programme of activity is currently being developed that will achieve a measurable reduction in the bureaucratic burdens on the public sector.