Scottish Parliament debate: Public Services Reform Bill

Linda spoke in the Stage 1 debate on 7 January 2010:

“We have had interesting discussions at the Finance Committee and we heard interesting contributions from right across the public sector about simplifying the landscape. There was general agreement that it is time for public service reform. The bill’s objectives should be admired. It seeks to streamline decision making and transparency in the network of Scottish public bodies, and to reduce bureaucratic complexity for the private and voluntary sectors and also for individual citizens who have to engage with those bodies in their regulatory or other functions. We want greater clarity of role, remit and function, and we have to bring together bodies that have similar skill bases and prevent that needless overlap that we all know happens. We have to create greater critical masses of expertise and stop unnecessary activity.

“It is also right that we should create hurdles that will mean that new bodies have to be clearly justified. As a parliamentarian during the past 10 years—particularly during the first eight of those—I have felt that we created another body every time there was a problem. It was like putting a sticking plaster on something instead of dealing with it properly. We now have a chance to do it properly, and we should all welcome that.”

Read the full text of Linda’s speech here.