29/07/10
Independent Budget Review Published
Today saw the publication of the long awaited Independent Budget Review (IBR) report. The review of public expenditure in Scotland was commissioned by Finance Secretary John Swinney MSP in February 2010.
The panel provided numerous recommendations which include:
• Discounting the council tax freeze
• Continuing to reduce the number of public bodies
• Applying a two year pay freeze in the public sector from 2011-12
• A recruitment freeze across the public sector, effective immediately
• Reducing public sector employment by somewhere in the region of 5.7% and 10% by 2014-15
• Reviewing public sector pensions
• Reviewing the future of “all free or subsidised universal services”
• Examining the future of higher education funding
Chair of the panel, Crawford Beveridge CBE, said:
“Scotland needs to decide what form and shape of public services it desires and can afford. What do we want the state to do? What level of taxes are we willing to bear for the provision of our public services? How much should we change the mix between the state, the individual, the third/voluntary sector, and the private sector?”
Source: Scottish Government news release.