Ivan McKee

There's a whole empowerment agenda here about communities, people in communities being able to feel they can influence decisions locally.

To be honest with you, the realpolitik of this is that people will exploit it, misrepresent it, frankly, tell lies about it.

The public should expect better

The fiscal challenges were part of the rationale for the reforms

We are going into the public service reform agenda with a great deal of ambition and a great deal of pace

The building blocks of an independent state

Cuts is about doing less with less; efficiency is about doing the same or doing more with less because you're doing it more efficiently.

If you look across the wider public sector, there are public bodies that have driven headcount reductions and have worked through the no compulsory redundancy policy to its conclusion.

We have to - and we will. We're determined to take that forward.

The position is that we should make use of that building the best we can.

It’s important that people are coming into the office to work with the teams they’re part of, to be able to engage face-to-face with people but clearly they have the flexibility to be able to work remotely when it makes sense to do so.

There’s conversations between him and the First Minister.

We're not scared. We're very clear in terms of what our expectation is and that's part of broader conversations with trade unions about the shape of public services going forward.

The Scottish Government has got a view on that. And that is that people should be spending a percentage of the time in the office.

We’ve got to win that trust. People do trust the Scottish Government more than, for example, they trust the UK Government.

We’re very serious about this. I’m determined that we’re going to deliver on this because the citizens of Scotland deserve excellent public services and they deserve those services to be delivered as efficiently as possible.

We’re very clear that flatter organisations, less layers of management is really important.

The proposals that we have put forward, in draft at this stage for further development, are not about centralisation, quite the opposite.

No one who uses or works in public services would say they are as streamlined or seamless as they should be and we want every pound of investment to make the greatest impact.

Our public service reform focuses on delivering the things that matter most to people, such as easier access to the NHS and more efficient services.

In the year to end March 2026, the number of Full Time Equivalent staff directly employed by the core Scottish Government has reduced by over 3%.

It will be for the planning authority to interpret and apply NPF4 according to the circumstances of each individual case.

Empowering staff, service users and local communities to help rewire the design and delivery of services is key as every pound saved from inefficiency is a pound we can invest in care, education and communities.

Poverty, poor health and inequality are not inevitable, they are challenges we can address earlier and more effectively with better outcomes for people.