UofG Centre for Public Policy

STOP Lightning Talk by Ross Martin, Scotland Inclusive Growth 

There is no doubting that we are witnessing a seismic shift in our political culture. 

Like the last two large transitions of politics and the economy – represented by the election of Thatcher in ‘79 and Blair in ‘97 - this one is driven by a people-centred sense that we can do so much better than this, where the Cost of Living Crisis is reflected in the hugely negative impacts we can all see on people around us and the places in which we live, work and play. 

In the past decade we have suffered an unholy trinity of economic shocks, an ‘ABC’, of set-backs: Austerity, Brexit, and Covid. We are also feeling the negative impacts of global conflict, and what the increasingly impressive and influential Mark Carney has described as a 'rupture' in the World Order. 

And as with those two previous seismic shifts, this one demands that we do things differently – within, across and between the private, public and social sectors of the economy. But in common with them, it is also apparent that we desperately need, now more than ever, a radical and robust programme of Public Service Reform.

PSR is of course an old song, with a number of cover versions released throughout the decades - I think I have the complete set! I’ve led, or been involved in, a number of organisations that have 'produced' a number of those releases, including at; 

• The Scottish Forum for Modern Government 

• The Centre for Scottish Public Policy 

• and in the economic sphere, 

• SCDI (now Prosper, of course) 

Back then, we recognised in our 2015 Blueprint for Scotland’s Economy, that PSR was a pre-requisite to any drive towards inclusive economic growth. 

That document, and its successors, became the basis for the National Strategy for Economic Transformation, NSET, centred around that core challenge of needing to reshape our public services - and their spend profile - in order to free up resources from what had been a significantly growing Block Grant for most of the short life of the Scottish Parliament.   

This year’s Scottish Budget and Spending Review have made it clear, in pretty stark terms, that if the books are to continue to balance then a robust programme of PSR is required. 

Mind you, PSR has been talked about since the ‘Dawn of Devolution’ - which was, of course, way back at the end of last Century; when my hair was still on top of my head, Scotland’s male football team was last in the World Cup, and politics embarrassingly attempted to align with pop culture; remember 'Cool Britannia'! 

The D:Ream that “Things Can Only Get Better!” was followed by the appropriately named Oasis and Blur albums; “Definitely Maybe” and “Modern Life is Rubbish”!  

As well as being commentaries on the times, each of these titles could also have been describing the PSR programmes that were around back then - and that brings me to those other members of the Brit Pop movement, the Spice Girls, and their song;  

“Stop!”  

That hit, released in 1998, the year before the Scottish Parliament was reborn, does have some surprising insight regarding where our politicians have been on the PSR journey! Honest. 

Don’t believe me? How about this line from the lyric;  

“Caught in a craze, it’s just a phase, or will this be around forever?”  

Now, we simply can’t afford for Public Service Reform to be a craze any longer, it must be - as was said of Devolution itself - 'a journey and not a destination'. In order to properly take people on that journey, PSR must be person-centred, not producer led. Since the start of the Scottish Parliament, and well before, it has rarely been so. 

Most attempts at PSR have been driven by a cold-hearted demand for efficiency, rather than a people-centred desire for greater effectiveness. Whilst, throughout that last quarter of a century, any successful reform of our public services has recognised that it must be the other way around. 

Take, as an example, what we jokingly referred to as 'the West Lothian Answer' in 1995:

In the largest part of the local authority, our education service (schools, nurseries, outdoor education, libraries - including public - sports and arts and culture) we inherited 198 FTEs in the corporate centre. Through a radical, person-centred programme of PSR, throughout the ‘shadow year’ we halved that number, improved outcomes and performance, and so helped West Lothian Council become UK Council of the Year only a few years later.  

We knew that economic efficiencies arise from greater public service effectiveness, not the other way around. The same was true on the capital budget too; we closed 3 high schools, 8 primary schools and integrated a number of nurseries – all to better match the supply of school places with the changing demand for them, through controversial catchment reviews, driving a 2-point grade improvement across the board within 2 years, in those areas we had reformed.

It is worth noting now, that the school population is declining in 31 of our 32 local authority areas and so all councils have the challenge-opportunity to reshape their school estate to ensure the best possible education environment, and the creation of more comprehensive catchments, enabling diversity to drive improvements to learning outcomes for all. 

A poor example of PSR?  

Police Scotland, created on the economic demand for £120m of 'efficiency savings'. As a former chair of a police authority, I watched in horror as many of the 'effectiveness' reforms we’d piloted in Lothian & Borders were either put into reverse, or ripped out entirely, by worshipping the false god of economic efficiency!

Make no mistake, PSR is tough - I have the scars on my back - but it is not hard. We know how to do this stuff! Even better, we also know from the evidence of past reforms like these that the benefits of making such changes to our public services, when led for the right reasons, come through the system surprisingly quickly.

If we are to make inroads into the looming Scottish Budget deficit, as described by Professor Graeme Roy, Chair of the Scottish Fiscal Commission, then clearly any PSR programme must also be Nationally Coherent and Regionally Diverse, just as described in NSET (and mirrored in the UK Industrial Strategy).

That is genuine common ground for both our governments to collaborate. 

In addition, within each of our 8 regions there is of course messiness, e.g. the Ayrshire (& Arran), Argyll & Bute, Fife and Moray local authorities each play into more than one regional economy, and they therefore demand specific consideration in that regard. 

Overall though, the message is clear, we need to STOP; 

• duplicating 

• fragmenting 

• overlapping 

and START delivering on a radical and robust programme of PSR.  

Finally, let’s take a wee sneaky peek into our 8 regions, to see just one example from each, of what we need to STOP doing: 

1. Ayrshire - STOP doing everything in 3 different ways – it’s One Ayrshire! 
2. The Borderlands - STOP making a barrier out of the Border! 
3. The Capital City Region - STOP pretending that you’re NOT the Capital!  
4. Forth Valley - STOP looking to the past and embrace the energy transition 
5. Glasgow’s Metro City Region - STOP running a fragmented public transport network 
6. The Highlands & Islands - STOP avoiding the need for diverse approaches, e.g. introduce Single Public Authorities  
7. The North East - STOP ignoring the need to integrate the bus and train station along with the port
8. Tay Cities - STOP at nothing. Go for it with the D&A, the V&A, and an integrated approach with Perth too. 

And whilst we’re here, let’s lay down a similar challenge to all of our National Agencies - from Scottish Enterprise through to Transport Scotland, and all others in between, including; HES, Nature Scot, SDS, SEPA, and ZWS; 

• STOP duplicating 

• STOP second guessing  

• STOP over burdening our regions 

START supporting the REPs by building upon their diverse, characteristic contributions to Scotland’s Economy.  

Enable, empower and entrust them and their constituent parts to take the lead to bring the public, private and social sectors together, and deliver not just place-based interventions, but people-centred reform of our public services.

Joe Griffin, Permanent Secretary to the Scottish Government invited us all to grant our regions the 'powers and permission' to act. So, let them get their sleeves rolled up, their hands dirty, recognising the EU truism of ‘Subsidiarity’; or the need to put power into the hands of the people affected by decisions. 

As the Spice Girls said so presciently in that song; 

'STOP right now,  

thank you very much, 

I need somebody with a human touch!'

The End.

Author and about this blog 

STOP Lightning Talk by Ross Martin, Scotland Inclusive Growth 

This is a written copy of a talk that was delivered at the University of Glasgow Centre for Public Policy’s event Stop/Start: Making Public Service Reform Stick in Scotland, on Monday 19 January 2026.  

It was part of a set of STOP talks, quick fire provocations from leaders in this space, challenging attendees to think about what’s not working and should be stopped.  

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First published: 11 February 2026