A WATCHDOG has warned that the Scottish Government could struggle to recruit the skilled staff needed to implement its new financial powers.
Money raised in Scotland will rise from around £4 billion before the 2012 and 2016 Scotland Acts were introduced, to £22bn by 2020.
Audit Scotland said the scale of change needed to set up and manage new responsibilities for taxes, social security and borrowing had resulted in “significant staffing implications”.
More than half (52 per cent) of Scotland’s budget will be raised directly in Scotland, compared to just a tenth in 2014/15. Auditors said the number of full-time equivalent government staff had fallen by six per cent from 5491 in March 2010 to 5152 six years later.
“Successfully implementing and managing the new financial powers will require enough staff with the right knowledge and skills,” its report said. “Recruiting staff with the technical experience required, for example in finance and programme management, may prove difficult.”
Audit Scotland said difficulties had already become apparent in recruiting to the Scottish Fiscal Commission, the body that will provide financial forecasts for Scotland.
Recruitment campaigns between September and December 2016 did not fill all the posts on a permanent basis, including the chief executive position.
Auditors also said Scottish Ministers must develop effective arrangements to manage the new powers and provide “clear, reliable and easily understandable” economic and financial information. They praised the Government’s “good programme management” in place but called for a “clearer picture of potential future costs” and regular monitoring of spending, highlighting that expenditure is due to increase “significantly” over the next four years through devolution of new social security powers.
Caroline Gardner, Auditor General for Scotland, said: “Implementing and managing the new financial powers will transform the work of the Scottish Government on an historic scale. It’s made some good progress by getting the foundations in place for managing the new powers but the major funding and staffing implications of the next stage of financial devolution must be planned for and managed in an open and transparent way.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here