Colin Mair says we will have to be ‘tax-willing’ to cope with rising costs

By EDDIE BARNES
Published on 20/09/2012 00:00

EXPERTS set out a grim picture of future cutbacks and rising costs as they warned MSPs yesterday about the uphill task ahead.

As MSPs met to discuss the impact of Scotland’s ageing population, one public sector leader warned there was a straight choice facing ministers.

Colin Mair, the chief executive of the local government body Improvement Scotland said: “Either we are going to make much more substantial cuts in other areas of public service – and I find it hard to see where they are going to happen – or, alternatively, we are going to have to be tax-willing as a country and have the fiscal tools to be tax-willing to support what we are doing.”

Alan Sinclair, of the Centre for Confidence and Well-Being, warned that the current spending difficulties could drag on for up to two decades.

Action on Hearing Loss Scotland said around 850,000 people have a degree of hearing loss, but this number is estimated to grow to 1.2 million by 2031. The number of people with sight loss is 180,000 and is expected to rise to 400,000 by 2031.

The committee was also told by the National Osteoporosis Society that the overall cost of fractures to the NHS is £192 million each year, which is estimated to grow by 43 per cent by 2036.