Accountability of public services in Scotland: baseline evidence review and analysis

3. Public Services Provision in Scotland

This Section provides a brief overview of what is understood by the term “public services”, and identifies the main providers of public services in Scotland. It is based on a review of published sources of information and draws on feedback provided at the signatories’ workshop. It also briefly touches on key pieces of national research that have explored public service delivery in Scotland, including the external scrutiny^[7] of public services.

3.1 What are Public Services?

Public services are hugely diverse.

Public services span everything: from criminal justice (e.g. courts, prisons) to education (e.g. schools, colleges, universities); from emergency services (e.g. Fire Service, Police, Search and Rescue) to environmental protection; from early years to enterprise and skills; from health to public transportation and transportation infrastructure; from social care to waste management (e.g. wastewater, solid waste, recycling); from the water supply network to telecommunications and other utilities.

Public services span both statutory and non-statutory service provision. For example, statutory provision includes public services that are required by law with legislation set by government for them to be in place. Statutory services are usually funded by government (e.g. Fire Service). Non-statutory public services are not all funded by government, and are delivered by a variety of providers, including civic society organisations (e.g. third sector), arms-length externals organisations (ALEOs), and the private sector.

As is evident from the description above, public services touch on and improve many different aspects of our day-to-day lives – “public services underpin human welfare and economic growth”^[8]. Here, the OGP emphasises the extent to which “people care about public services and depend on them being delivered well” . It further considers public services within the context of such services being “the most common interface between people and the State”, and the link between this and people’s trust in government.

As noted by the Scottish Government “the quality of those (public) services is part of the bedrock on which our society and future prosperity depends, and are crucial in shaping a more successful, wealthier and fairer Scotland”^[9].

The Commission on the Future Delivery of Public Services Report (June 2011)^[10] notes “public services are important to us all but are of particular importance in protecting the vulnerable and disadvantaged in our society. They are central to achieving the fair and just society to which we aspire” ……and

“Public services have a significant influence on the quality of the business environment with a role in control of planning, infrastructure, enterprise support and investment in research and innovation. They have impact too through public transport, social housing, skills developed in schools, colleges and universities and through training and retraining programmes aimed at increasing job prospects for the unemployed”.

A UK Government White Paper on Open Public Services (2011)^[11] groups public services into three categories, namely:

1. Individual Services – personal services used by people on an individual basis. It covers public services such as education, skills training, adult social care, childcare, housing support, and individual healthcare.

2. Neighbourhood Services – services provided locally and on a collective basis. This spans, for example, maintenance of the local public realm, leisure and recreation facilities, and community safety.

3. Commissioned Services – a mix of local and national services that are not devolved. This includes tax collection, prisons, and emergency services.

An important point to note is that “public services” are not the same as the “public sector”. Indeed, not all public services are delivered by public bodies – as outlined above, some are delivered by the private sector and are run for profit. The general rule of thumb, however, is that as long as delivery of the service is fair and is needed by people then it could be considered a public service.

3.2 Feedback from Signatories Workshop

The main discussion points raised by partners that attended the signatories’ workshop regarding what is meant by the term “public services” can be summarised as follows:

• there needs to be recognition of the difference between public services and the public sector;
• that not all public services in Scotland are delivered by the public sector;
• the “public nature” angle is important – so as not to exclude some services when defining what is understood by the term public services. Some examples referred to included education services provided by colleges and universities, some care services, etc; and
• there is a need to ask people/public what they understand by the term public services.

3.3 Who Provides Public Services in Scotland?

The main providers of public services in Scotland are outlined below. This highlights the scale, diversity, and complexity of public service provision in Scotland:

• 32 local authorities;
• 5,045 schools (i.e. 2,514 nurseries, 2,031 primary schools, 359 secondary schools, 141 special schools^[12]), 27 colleges, and 19 universities are responsible for the direct delivery of education;
• 14 regional NHS Boards are responsible for the protection and the improvement of their population’s health and delivery of healthcare services; seven Special NHS Boards; one public health body who supports the regional NHS Boards and provides specialist and national services^[13][14]; and 425 independent health care providers (e.g. independent hospitals, private psychiatric hospitals, independent hospices, and independent clinics);
• 14,000 registered care services in Scotland (e.g. childminding, daycare of children, care homes for adults, care at home)^[15];
• 122 public bodies directly under the control of the Scottish Government, albeit the nature of the relationship with government varies. This spans executive agencies, Non Ministerial Office (NMOs), executive Non Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs), advisory NDPBs, tribunal NDPBs, public corporations, health bodies, parliamentary bodies, other significant national bodies^[16];
• 192 Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) delivering housing services^[17]; and
• 24,481 registered charities including community groups, religious charities, schools, universities, grant-giving charities, and care providers^[18].

All public service providers in Scotland are subject to external scrutiny from one or more organisation.

3.4 Overview of Relevant Contextual Research

Over the last decade or so there have been various reports that have considered the role public services play in Scotland, the scrutiny of public services, and/or the future delivery of public services.

Of particular relevance to this research are the following:

• The Crerar Review – The Report of the Independent Review of Regulation, Audit, Inspection, and Complaints Handling of Public Services in Scotland (September 2007)^[19];
• Scrutiny and the Public: Qualitative Study of Complaints Handling of Public Services in Scotland (October 2007)^[20];
• Commission on the Future Delivery of Public Services (June 2011)^[21];
• Government's Response to the Christie Commission on the Future Delivery of Public Services (September 2011)^[22]; and
• The 3-Step Improvement Framework for Scotland’s Public Services (April 2013)^[23].

While it is outwith the scope of this research to undertake a detailed review of these documents, some key points include the following (please note : some reports are more than a decade old):

• public service provision in Scotland is large, complex, and going through a period of continuous change. There is a continuing trend of public sector reform to ensure effective and sustainable public services. This agenda has been driven by a number of factors, including: tight budgetary and fiscal pressures; changing demographics; growing demand for public services; persistent inequalities; increased expectations of public services among the public; and delivering better outcomes;
• there is a supportive policy and legislative environment for community empowerment in public service reform . There is a recognised need to put communities first and adopt approaches that strengthen people’s voices in informing, shaping, and improving the services that affect them;
• there is a growing appreciation of the role that people can play in shaping new approaches and informing the transformation of public service delivery . Placing people at the heart of the reform process is more commonplace to help improve the efficiency and effectiveness of public services. This approach is reported to provide benefits for the public sector (e.g. efficient allocation of scarce resources) and for people (e.g. increased satisfaction with services, building trust);
• there is an identified need for greater partnership working and collaboration among public service providers , including greater levels of alignment and integration; and
• the public service system can often lack accountability:
  • the powers and duties of external scrutiny and inspection bodies should be framed so as to focus on the achievement by public bodies of measurable outcomes and on the effectiveness of partnership working
  • often effective challenge and external scrutiny is difficult due to poor data availability or the incomparability of information on the costs, quality and performance of public services
  • there was a recommendation to reduce the number of scrutiny and complaints-handling bodies – plus ensuring complaints handling becomes more consistent and external scrutiny becomes more proportionate, risk-based and better coordinated
  • the research found that the public have limited awareness of scrutiny organisations and processes. However, there was a clear expectation among the public that there is and should be external scrutiny of public services
  • the public were more familiar with inspection and complaints handling than with regulation and audit, and there was awareness of some but not all external scrutiny organisations. There were higher levels of awareness of the former Care Commission and HM Inspectorate of Education (now known as Care Inspectorate and Education for Scotland respectively), and the Health and Safety Executive and the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.

While much of this research is dated, it does highlight the need for change and improvements within the public services and accountability landscape . There is a clear indication that more effort is required to educate and increase levels of awareness and understanding of the existing scrutiny landscape among the public. This is with a view to empowering people to engage more effectively in this area. There might also be changes required to organisational processes at an operational and monitoring and reporting level to ensure good quality, impact information and data that can be shared with all interested parties, including the public.