Is Ivan McKee the most important person in the Scottish government?published at 16:37 BST
16:37 BST
David Henderson
Scotland news correspondent
Ivan
McKee is the new cabinet secretary for public service reform.
The
prominence John Swinney gives this new role suggests he sees it as a
defining priority.
Little
wonder.
Despite
increased investment over 19 years of SNP government, public satisfaction with
services has fallen.
And
there’s a looming black hole in public finances.
The
Scottish government itself revealed it faces a funding gap approaching £5bn by the end of the decade.
And
a spending watchdog, Scotland’s auditor general, warned there’s no detailed
plan to fill it.
The
Scottish government is constrained from borrowing much and
it has to balance its budget each year.
So
John Swinney will have to rein in spending across the board.
At
the same time, he’s committed to increased spending on key SNP priorities.
So
he’ll have to find major additional savings to pay for them.
This
could involve painful trade-offs, which weren’t debated much during the
election campaign.
As
a junior minister for public finance, Ivan McKee launched Scotland’s Public
Service Reform Strategy in parliament.
His
target: reducing spending on “back office costs” across public bodies
by £1bn over five years.
Now
in Cabinet, he’ll be expected to go further and faster, to balance the books
and give John Swinney the headroom he needs to fund new priorities.