Christie Commission Report

June 29th 2011

Christie Commission Report

June 29th 2011

In welcoming the report Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) General Secretary Grahame Smith said:

“There is little in the report to help Mr Swinney with his impending budget problems. It was, after all, never the Commission’s role to offer immediate solutions to the short-term public sector funding crisis.

“At its heart this report lays out a future for public sector delivery free of the nonsense of privatisation, marketisation and the ‘enabling state’. The Commission clearly identifies the public sector as a driver not just of fairness but of growth – a million miles away from the view of the right wing and big business that public services are a drag on the economy.

“Unfortunately it was not in the Commission’s remit to consider issues of tax and spend or the effect of economic policy on income inequality, nevertheless the core messages on switching to early intervention and entrenching the expectation on equal outcomes are to be welcomed.

“In identifying service integration as its big idea, the report opens up the potential for longer-term change. This will not be easy, but the Commission is right to recognise that such change must be developed around democratically elected councils and involve greater community engagement.

“In partnership with users, public sector workers can play a key role in bringing about meaningful service improvement , to do so they must be properly consulted, properly trained and properly rewarded. I hope the Scottish Government keeps this I mind as it considers its response the Commission’s findings.”

ENDS

For further information contact Dave Moxham t0141 337 8100