SCOTLAND has been handed a shocking picture of the swingeing…
0 Comments | Herald, The; Glasgow (UK), Jul 30, 2010 | by Brian Currie
SCOTLAND has been handed a shocking picture of the swingeing cuts threatening to lay waste to the country’s public services.
A budget blueprint yesterday set out a brutal package of options to bridge the pound(s)42 billion funding squeeze facing Scotland, with no public services spared the prospect of cuts.
It warned that up to 50,000 public-sector jobs could be axed and free services like personal care, concessionary travel and eye examinations might no longer be affordable. It also placed in the line of fire the council tax freeze, free prescriptions and public- sector pay rises.
The hard-hitting report by the Independent Budget Review Group prompted immediate calls from Finance Secretary John Swinney for cross-party talks to discuss the measures.
Last night, Crawford Beveridge, chairman of the so-called “three wise men” behind the report, said difficult decisions requiring strong leadership had to be made and implemented.
He said: “Scotland needs to decide what form and shape of public services it desires and can afford.”
The group was set up in February to set out options in advance of Westminster’s Comprehensive Spending Review in October and against the background of the expected pound(s)42bn squeeze on the Scottish budget over the next 16 years.
It warns this is how long it may take before Government spending returns to present-day levels.
The report focused on four areas – the public pay bill, efficiency savings, universal benefits and capital spending.
It says the Government should consider an immediate recruitment freeze across the public sector followed by a reduction in the number of jobs of up to 10% by 2014-15, although this could drop if a tougher approach to pay restraint was adopted.
It assumes a pay freeze in the first two years and pay restraint in the following two.
The prospect of protecting the NHS, as the UK Government has
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