Top brass in firing line for Holyrood jobs cull

Published on Wednesday 25 August 2010 17:56

The Scottish Parliament's most senior civil servants will be the first casualties of swingeing spending cuts at Holyrood.

• Paul Grice: whole organisation must play a part

As the country braces itself for up to 2 billion to be trimmed from its 30bn budget next year, a letter was sent from Holyrood's chief executive Paul Grice to staff and MSPs yesterday, warning that Holyrood will suffer under the new spending regime.

Mr Grice made it clear that at least three of 11 staff in the most senior positions at the parliament will have to go.

This will be followed by further job losses among the Holyrood workforce, which currently numbers around 500.

The parliament's chief executive has been charged with finding at least 15 per cent of savings from the Holyrood budget of 78.7 million which means that he is likely to have to reduce costs by 11.8m. If the 15 per cent savings requirement is applied to staffing levels, up to 75 roles could be lost in the changes.

Questions have been asked about the number of senior positions and staffing levels at the parliament, which currently employs nine press officers.

In his letters, Mr Grice made it clear that the savings would need to include reducing the number of staff.

He indicated the savings should start at the top and that one of the three assistant chief executives under him, who earn up 101,000, will be first for the chop.

He also said he intended to restructure the organisation which would lead to a reduction in the number of group heads, who earn between 61,869 and 73,482.

It is understood that he will try to offload two of the eight group heads and try to merge responsibilities.

Currently, the eight sections they head are business, information and technology; the chamber office; committee office; facilities management; financial services; human resources; public affairs; and the research, information and reporting group.

There were questions last night whether Mr Grice was being ambitious enough, with one insider suggesting the number of group heads could be halved to four. However, two senior managers lost their jobs through cost-cutting in April and there was a warning that the cuts would hit other staff too.

Mr Grice wrote: "While senior management will rightly bear its full share of the cuts, the whole organisation will have to play its part in the months ahead.

"As I have stated before, I intend to do everything possible to avoid compulsory redundancies, and to that end I am continuing to work with the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body to explore options for a voluntary early retirement/early severance scheme for staff across the parliament."

In June, Mr Grice told the 500 staff at the parliament they faced "almost certain" job losses.

A Scottish Parliament spokesman said: "The chief executive feels strongly that senior management should set its stall out first. This will reinforce senior management's credentials to lead the rest of the organisation through a period of considerable change."

The move by parliament bosses to lead the way on public sector cuts in Scotland was welcomed by the two parties in the coalition government in Westminster.

The Tory-Liberal Democrat coalition hopes to cut public spending by more than 80bn in the next five years and has already slashed 11bn from welfare and told some UK departments that they will have to make savings worth up to 40 per cent of their budgets.

Scottish Conservative leader Annabel Goldie has already clashed with both SNP First Minister Alex Salmond and the Presiding Officer Alex Fergusson in the chamber about the cost of the parliament to the public purse.

Yesterday, Scottish Conservative finance spokesman Derek Brownlee said: "Everyone knows that there will have to be savings across the public sector to deal with Labour's legacy of debt.

"The Scottish Parliament cannot be immune from that."

Holyrood Lib Dem chief whip Mike Rumbles added: "Organisations across the public sector are having to tighten their belts. It's right that the Scottish parliament plays it part."

There was also support for savings at Holyrood from Labour which has opposed many of the cuts suggested in Scotland.

A Labour spokesman said: "It is right that the Scottish Parliament should look at savings it will have to make in public spending."

They suggested that the SNP's finance secretary John Swinney should learn some lessons from the parliament's initiative. Mr Swinney has so far been silent on where the savings of up to 2bn he will have to make will come from. The Labour spokesman said: "John Swinney should take a leaf out of their book and come forward as soon as parliament reconvenes with a draft budget."

Similar cuts are expected to be forced on the Scottish Government and councils next year.

Last night, SNP ministers and the party refused to comment on the parliament's proposed cuts. However, parliamentary authorities look set for a battle with the unions.

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) has already said it is furious at Scottish Parliament management's plans.

Previously, Lynn Henderson Scottish secretary of PCS said: "These cuts have nothing to do with efficiency and are just the beginning of the assault on public services that we predict after the UK election whichever party wins. This paves the way for jobs to go on the cheap.

"PCS will not stand by and watch hard working civil and public servants pay the price of a recession they didn't cause, and will continue fighting to defend members' jobs and the essential public services we provide which are needed now more than ever."

The union, which represents most of the UK's civil service, has already made it clear that it intends to hold a series of strikes to oppose job cuts across the country, including in Scotland.