‘It’s Democracy, Stupid’ to transform services

by Chris Bartter

It’s “Democracy, Stupid” to transform Scotland’s Public Services, Dave Watson, UNISON’s Scottish Organiser, told a conference on transformation and the public sector earlier this month.

Dave told an audience of public authority managers, business leaders and politicians that we should strengthen local government, democratise the quango state and change the culture to involve people in the running of their local services.

In a robust exchange with right wing business sponsored spokesperson, Geoff Mawdsley, Director of Reform Scotland, he dismissed reliance on private sector solutions as introducing “shareholder values” into the public sector, directly clashing with the public service ethos.

He also warned that - although there were positive benefits from the use of the voluntary sector - there were challenges for this very disparate group - including democratic accountability and funding shortfalls leading to a race to the bottom in employment standards.

The Conference was organised by Holyrood magazine and also featured John Swinney MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth in the Scottish Government, as a keynote speaker.

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