Scotland’s public services reform: Meeting fiscal need with policy innovation
Tuesday 23rd September 2025
Public service reform in Scotland is no longer optional – it is now urgent. While Scotland’s public bodies are under pressure from rising demand, constrained resources and accelerating change, they must still deliver better outcomes for people and communities. However, systemic inertia, fragmented leadership and uneven performance threaten the pace and depth of change required. How therefore do we now move from intention to action – across organisations, systems and localities – to deliver real reform?
Public services in Scotland face a complex mix of challenges – ageing infrastructure, workforce pressures, silo delivery models and a public increasingly sceptical of top-down change. Reforms promised in previous decades have often lacked scale, focus, or follow-through. Yet failure to implement reform now risks both service sustainability and public trust.
Against this backdrop, the Scottish Government’s 'Scotland’s Public Service Reform Strategy 2025' sets out an ambitious vision for transformation. It aims to shift investment upstream into prevention, redesigning services around people and place with the intention of saving £1 billion in public sector overheads over five years. Featuring more than 80 proposed actions and a significant number of different workstreams, the scale of its ambition is matched only by the implementation task ahead.
Beyond vision and aspiration lies the challenge of delivery. This will demand alignment across local and national government, public bodies and frontline professionals. Digital reform, organisational consolidation, smarter data use and clearer accountability all feature – but how will they be delivered in practice?
This conference will explore the Scottish Government's plans and will discuss how we can overcome structural, cultural and operational obstacles. It will examine what comes next in moving from strategy to meaningful delivery.
The conference will focus on three themes:
- Resetting Scotland’s public services for a sustainable future – beyond business as usual
- The realities of reform – challenges, risks and opportunities
- Making it real – governance, next steps and delivery
Topics to be discussed
- Resetting Scotland’s public services for a sustainable future – beyond business as usual
- Understanding the 'Scotland’s Public Service Reform Strategy' agenda
- Why reform cannot wait – the tipping point for Scottish public services
- Investing in prevention – designing public services around people
- The realities of reform – challenges, risks and opportunities
- Modernising the front door of public services – digital by design
- Leadership, workforce and culture – reform’s human infrastructure
- Sustainable financing for sustainable services – efficiency without erosion?
- Making it real – governance, next steps and delivery
- Structures that deliver – accountability and governance that works
- Building legitimacy and trust through co-design – power with people
- Next steps, leadership for the long term and keeping up focus across political cycles
Who should attend
All those concerned with the development and delivery of public services in Scotland, including:
- Public sector leaders including Chief Executives, Directors, Heads of Finance, Managers, Service Managers, Departmental Heads, Policy Officers, Change and Service Transformation Managers
- All public sector bodies including local government, quangos/NDPBs, health, further education and emergency services
- Third sector partners in public sector service delivery
- Board members and trustees
- Policy and strategy professionals, strategic planners and policy officers, heads of policy development and implementation, analysts and researchers in public administration
- Advisory and representative groups including policy makers, lawyers, professional representative organisations and trade unions
- Campaigning groups including lobbying groups, sectoral and industry groups, single issue campaigning organisations
- Private sector working with and supplying to the public sector including companies, industry bodies and specialist advisors
- Legal and regulatory experts, legal advisors and in-house counsel for public bodies and specialists in public sector law
- Finance and procurement leaders, chief financial officers and finance directors, procurement and contract managers, budgeting and financial planning specialists
- HR and organizational development professionals, human resource directors and managers, organisational development specialists, inclusion and diversity officers
- Public service improvement specialists
- Academics and researchers in public policy, leadership and public sector transformation
- Elected members and representatives involved in public administration and oversight
Agenda
Tuesday 23rd September 2025
09:25 Chair's opening remarks
Session 1: Resetting Scotland’s public services for a sustainable future – beyond business as usual
09:30 Keynote speaker – Understanding the 'Scotland’s Public Service Reform Strategy' agenda
09:45 Question and answer session
09:55 Why reform cannot wait – the tipping point for Scottish public services
- Pressures driving the urgency for reform – finance, demographics, outcomes
- The strategic value of prevention and integration
- Consequences of inertia or partial reform
10:10 Investing in prevention – redesigning public services around people
- Redirecting spend from acute services to early intervention
- Funding models that incentivise prevention – building person-centred and place-based services
- Measuring impact and cost-avoidance
10:25 Question and answer session
10:40 Comfort break
Session 2: The realities of reform – challenges, risks and opportunities
10:55 Modernising the front door of public services – digital by design
- The role of digital infrastructure and data sharing
- Making digital inclusion central to reform
- Managing risk and culture change
11:10 Leadership, workforce and culture – reform’s human infrastructure
- Empowering staff to lead change from within
- Navigating cultural resistance and change fatigue
- Leadership skills for systems reform
11:25 Sustainable financing for sustainable services – efficiency without erosion?
- £1 billion target – where and how can savings be made?
- Reinvesting in the frontline – transparently
- Improving procurement, estates, and corporate functions
11:40 Question and answer session
11:55 Comfort break
Session 3: Making it real – governance, next steps and delivery
12:10 Structures that deliver – accountability and governance that works
- Ensuring governance supports delivery, not just oversight
- Clarifying roles, responsibilities and cross-sector alignment
- Using data to track and enable progress
12:25 Building legitimacy and trust through co-design – power with people
- Participatory budgeting and local democracy
- Involving lived experience in shaping change
- Overcoming cynicism and building trust
12:40 Next steps, leadership for the long term and keeping up focus across political cycles
- Sustaining momentum beyond ministerial cycles
- Supporting long-term, cross-sector collaboration
- Embedding reform culture in institutions
12:55 Question and answer session
13:10 Chair's closing remarks
Speakers
Venue
This conference takes place online.
Fees
How to book
You can book to attend in 3 ways:
- Select book now on the right hand side of this page, fill in the form on that page and click the 'send booking' button
- Call 0131 556 1500
- Email mail@mackayhannah.com
Conference fees
- Delegate fee (includes video recording of the conference) – £169 +VAT
- Group discount – organisations booking 3 or more delegates will receive every third delegate place at half price (please complete further forms if necessary)
Please note – It is not permissible to share the recording. Please contact us if you wish to share it. See our terms and conditions for further information.
Payment
We do not currently accept payments online and will send you an invoice.
You have the option to pay by bank transfer or card.
Bank details will be included on the invoice.
If you wish to pay by card, please tick the appropriate box on the booking form and a member of our staff will contact you by telephone to take the payment. Alternatively you may call 0131 556 1500.
Terms and conditions
By placing this booking, you agree to the full terms and conditions found via the link at the foot of our website.