'We need to save like England'

Published on Wednesday 10 June 2009 22:02

ONE of Scotland's leading public sector finance experts has said Scotland needs to look to the examples of England to start making savings.

Jenny Stewart, head of public sector for leading accountancy firm KPMG, made her comments after Holyrood's finance committee reported hard times ahead for the Scottish budget.

The committee confirmed what many had predicted – that the peak of funding for Scotland had passed and the country should brace itself for a decade of reduced budgets and savings.

But Ms Stewart argues this might not be as difficult as has been suggested, and there are still ways around making hard choices on frontline services.

She told The Scotsman there was scope for the Scottish Government and the public sector in Scotland to cut out several layers of management. "That actually may make the way public services are delivered more efficient and effective in itself if there is a smaller chain of management," she said.

She added that councils could also start farming out far more of their services, such as home help, to the private sector which she believes can often deliver them more cheaply. "In this sense, councils in England for one reason or another, of all political persuasions, appear to be ahead of Scotland," she said.