Our most recent article set out the Mercat Group’s aim to promote debate about the way public services in Scotland are planned and delivered. Our reasoning is that considerable powers and responsibilities have over the past 25 years been transferred from Westminster to the Scottish Parliament but there has been no onward transfer from the Scottish Parliament to local councils as advocated in the devolution settlement. Conversely, the steady transfer of so many services from Scottish local government to the Scottish Government, has seen the establishment and growth of Scotland’s 100+ unelected quangos. This has;
- undermined the original vision of the architects of devolution.
- denied Scotland the capacity, knowledge and energy of Scotland’s councils; and
- impacted adversely on local communities.
The Scottish Government is becoming Scotland’s largest local authority. The devolution settlement has not just stalled but has gone into reverse.
We have serious concerns that the status of local government has been compromised. The way the whole public sector is organised in Scotland needs to be examined to reset the way all public services in Scotland are organised, delivered and financed. We have suggested the creation of a Scottish Civic Convention to take forward the public conversation necessary to conduct such a review. There may be other options but the central aim of this idea is to develop an approach to the delivery of all public services in Scotland that ensures that decisions are taken at the lowest local level consistent with democratic and financial accountability.
We recognise that such a lofty aim can only be achieved if civic Scotland can be roused from its slumber. With Reform Scotland, a non-partisan think tank, we are working to promote a national debate/conversation for such major change.
Any ‘national’ debate takes time and effort. It also requires some clear space for thought and analysis. That can only be created by pausing proposals for changes in our governance structures. This second article suggests some conditions necessary to clear the space for a Civic Convention – similar to the Constitutional Convention – to conduct the national debate.
Proposed Conditions
1. An immediate moratorium on any further public sector reform which involves the removal of services from local councils.
Public sector reform over the last 25 years has been progressed in service silos. That weakens service integration both within Councils and in partnership working. All proposals for change should be based on the outcome of our proposed national conversation on the reset of public services led by a Civic Convention.
The next conditions would enable the repatriation of local democratic accountability to inform the national conversation.
2. Transfer ring-fenced budgets to mainstream council budgets
This would give Councils greater discretion to allocate resources to locally determined priorities.
3. Provide three-year funding settlements to councils
This would give greater certainty to budget preparation and allow more flexibility within them.
4. Council Tax levels should be determined by local councils with no interference from the Scottish Government. Full control of financial resources will make Councils more accountable to their local electorate.
5. Establish an independent review group to advise the Civic Convention on finance and taxation.
The remit of this Review Group should be to examine current arrangements, set out the strengths and weaknesses, provide an overview of alternative approaches and set out options for consideration of the Civic Convention. The review should cover existing central/local government finance relations, including how business rates can be determined and collected by councils, and which other forms of taxation could be introduced or devolved to councils. Tourism taxes are already on the agenda but land development taxes, power generation taxes and other options would also revive the vital relationship between the business and civic authorities that was a driver of Scottish innovation in the past.
Possible Flexibilities
We suggest an early action point for the Convention should be to review some areas where adjustments can be made or pilot schemes tested. These would be agreed with the Scottish Parliament and Government and could include;
- Abolishing the six regional education improvement collaboratives
The Scottish Government should reduce the centrally driven targets which inhibit the most flexible use of resources to achieve local outcomes eg class sizes and teacher numbers;
- Transferring the responsibility for public health from health boards back to councils to achieve better alignment with services such as environmental health, housing, social work, education, culture, leisure and recreation.
- Strengthening the local democratic accountability of existing Health and Social Care Partnerships.
- Reviewing the services and budgets of Scottish Enterprise and Skills Development Scotland, such as careers, to determine how they can be managed more effectively with local democratic control.
- Strengthening the local scrutiny and accountability of both Police and Fire and Rescue Services.
- Introducing a statutory requirement for government quangos to be held accountable to local Community Planning Partnerships thus ensuring that Scottish-wide agencies and bodies deliver local priority outcomes.
The main criterion for judging whether any proposed flexibility should be pursued should be the extent to which it is consistent with the Civic Convention’s deliberations.
UK Government Recognition of the Value of Local Government
Since setting forth our case for the need for a Civic Convention in Scotland, the UK Government has outlined its thoughts on the future of local government in England.
The proposals recently outlined in the English Devolution White Paper are radical and will no doubt create a significant governance debate in England. The White Paper highlights the importance of local government in delivering local solutions to local problems and concludes that it is better placed than the central government to deliver many policy solutions. “Councils are the foundation of our state. They are deeply embedded in the everyday life of people, but have been run into the ground in recent years”. That conclusion is equally valid for Scotland.
This paper proposes transfer of responsibility for a wide range of additional core services from Whitehall to local government including housing, regeneration, local growth, local transportation, road networks, skills, and employment support, police and fire services. This list is wide ranging and potentially impressive (if delivered), but the real significance is the recognition that local democratic accountability both matters and can deliver results. That is refreshing and quite different from our 25-year Scottish devolution journey.
Time for a Set of Clear Governance Proposals from an Informed Debate
Devolution from Westminster to a Scottish Parliament has been a significant achievement and has delivered some enlightened reforms that have improved the common weal. But it has failed to mobilise the local knowledge and enterprise that councils can provide. After 25 years we find ourselves in a position where too many decisions affecting too many people are made by too few. Local government should be the friend and accomplice of the Scottish Government, not just the administrative arm if the genuine aim is to restore local democracy. Local councils have demonstrated their ability to adapt and change whilst coping with unprecedented funding pressures, it is time that the Scottish Parliament made them partners in revitalising the common weal and democratising the mission to make Scotland flourish. It is time to set out a plan for the next 25 years
A Civic Convention can only happen if we accept that the current system is no longer fit for purpose AND can only be fixed through a national consensus. The Civic Convention is our proposal to achieve the consensus that would deliver the original intent of the Scottish Parliament to devolve power to the lowest possible level.
It’s time to acknowledge that restoring local democracy requires simplifying the complex service delivery arrangements that have emerged with the increase in non-democratic agencies. They operate to different boundaries, different priorities and with budgets that seldom coordinate with those of local Councils. This confuses and delays effective service delivery and is often in conflict with the needs and priorities of local communities.
In 2007 the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, then John Swinney said;
“Scotland has a crowded public sector landscape. This is causing duplication and lack of focus. In recent years, an organisational spaghetti of partnerships and networks has grown, alongside a hugely complex system of performance and monitoring“.
After 25 years of the Scottish Parliament, it is time for Scotland to sort out the spaghetti and improve local democracy.
Bill Howat, George Thorley, Gavin Whitefield and Keith Yates are all members of The Mercat Group, an informal network of former chief executives of Scottish local authorities with over 220 years of public service between them, including 70 years as chief executives.
2 comments
David Belfall
I agree very much with the general thrust of this. The local democratic deficit is particularly obvious in the cases of the health and police services. See my 2018 blog on the police. But why do you not discuss elected mayors – now such a feature of local democracy south of the Border?
Kenneth Ferguson
This is a very welcome initiative. I would add that there also needs to be a new relationship with the Third Sector, who often provide support and help where public systems cannot reach.
I would also urge that there should be a better system of review and scrutiny, given we have no second chamber. One positive step would be to have these “quangos” to report to Parliament and not Government.