Why Scotland needs to get better at governing in a complex world
Repeated failures and delays are signs of a malfunctioning government. We need to find out what’s wrong and fix it
As if any more signs were needed that the Scottish Government is bad at delivering on its plans and policies – delayed A9 dualling, delayed Calmac ferries, blocked gender reform law, botched deposit return scheme, ditched climate targets, delayed Census – along come four more.
According to Edinburgh International Festival chief executive Fran Hegyi, Scottish culture is facing a “house of cards” collapse unless £100 million in promised funding is rolled out by the Scottish Government soon. Meanwhile, a long-awaited plan to tackle classroom violence will now not be ready for the start of the new school term. New guidelines about use of mobile phones in schools and the Scottish Government's response to a report – published last year – about school qualifications have also been delayed.
The familiar cry of “blame Westminster” has obviously been heard, although for once there may be a degree of truth to it as the general election announcement has affected what civil servants can do until it is held. If only the excuse hadn’t been deployed so frequently and flagrantly in the past, it might have more credibility.
However, we suspect it is probably overly simplistic to blame SNP ministers, as tempting as this might be. The persistence of the problems suggests the fault is a more systemic one and questions need to be asked of the Civil Service, both of senior officials and about the way it operates.
In the UK, there has been a tradition of employing bright arts and humanities graduates in the expectation that they would pick things up as they went along, somewhat in keeping with the amateur ethos. It seemed to work well enough with British civil servants developing a good reputation globally.
However, in an increasingly complex world, it is surely time for Scotland to choose another model, based on professionals and experts. We might find inspiration in France where the École Nationale d'Administration was set up in 1945 to train its civil servants.
Whatever path we choose, our starting point has to be an acceptance that Scotland has a problem, that incompetent government is bad for the country and for democracy, and that this cannot continue.
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