With pre-budget scrutiny now behind us, it feels like a good moment to reflect on the Scottish Government’s fiscal outlook, and how the proposed policy approach chimes with its Public Service Reform agenda. The Public Service Reform strategy, in particular, mentions prevention as not just a key outcome of reform, but a mechanism for achieving it. A move to a preventative system is framed, often, as a way to reduce costs over the long-term.

While SURF has long advocated for prevention to be more central to government policy, it has always been quite clear that prevention will take years to embed properly and fully. And, contrary to popular belief, it will cost more, not less money.

While there is definitely ambition here, we can find no published evidence of a previous large-scale public sector reform initiative – in Scotland or elsewhere – which substantially lowered expenditure while successfully improving outcomes. How will this process be different, one wonders, and how will Scotland buck this trend?

To succeed fully, we need to think about prevention not as a cost-cutting measure, but as a vehicle for community investment. Many of the community led projects – regeneration or otherwise – are preventative in their nature. Not only do they tackle issues directly – such as poverty, employability, and youth work, to name a few – but they create community foundations and systems that actively address the root cause, and therefore prevent them from occurring in future. Saint Paul’s Youth Forum – a former SURF award winner – is an excellent example in this regard. SPYF helped achieve a 97% reduction in youth crime over a ten-year period in the local area using a holistic approach that fused youth work, clubs, events, and spaces, all while fostering belonging and community relationships. It is these systems – sometimes informal, often community-based – that have the most potential to create change. They can often have a far bigger impact than a top-down approach.

Take employability, for example. It is clear that the Scottish Government takes seriously the challenge to increase labour market participation, which will not only grow tax base and lower government expenditure, but also contribute to the growth of Scotland’s economy. But a preventative approach in this context means a radical departure from how we approach – and fund – employability.

During SURF’s annual employability shared learning session, it was striking just how long-term the interventions are, and how poorly they map to the established one-year funding envelope. Routes to Work South – the winners of the employability category of the SURF awards – were only able to run their successful What I Need in Life (WIN) project because they initially chose to self-fund it. The breadth of challenges reported by the pilot participants shows how multi-faceted a policy priority such as ‘employability’ really is:

  • 72% reported they felt socially isolated.
  • 68% reported low confidence and a lack of self-belief.
  • 61% reported financial insecurity.
  • 12% had experienced homelessness.
  • 78% keen to develop new skills.
  • 69% have a long-term goal of moving into further education, training or employment.

Thinking about such a complex area of work in isolation, or in terms of just employment, does not address the multi-faceted nature of the situation. It’s also worth noting that many of the most vulnerable people are completely isolated from most support services, especially statutory ones. Employability is ultimately about much more than jobs: it covers housing, financial security, social isolation, connection, access to services and transport, and – increasingly – mental health. This requires a sensitive, community-aware approach with people who understand local people and dynamics, and can make connections to other key services once trust has been established.

A preventative approach to employability requires looking at the problem in more depth, while acknowledging that, although it is a thorny problem, employability is really ten problems rolled into one. It may take several interventions over a longer time period, or multiple services, before the right outcome is reached. A truly preventative approach also means scrapping the one-year funding envelope, and moving away from harmful funding cycles towards a more holistic funding landscape.

With this renewed emphasis on prevention, there is a risk that we collectively embark on a project we don’t fully understand, that we fall into the trap of short-termism even as we re-commit to longer horizons. Prevention requires more, not less investment. Just like the Community Wealth Building agenda, it has been incorrectly framed as a cost-cutting measure that places the emphasis on efficiency, rather than outcomes and people. An efficient system is, after all, not inherently one that delivers good outcomes.

SURF is aware that the fiscal context will mean difficult decisions in future. Doing so will require an honest and transparent approach to change. It may well be that the current position of improving outcomes while delivering planned efficiencies becomes unsustainable. Scotland is subject to the financial impact of global events and climate breakdown, outwith the control of Scotland’s Parliament. Investing in communities is the best preparation for when these arrive on our doorstep. In truth, much of the sector feels as if it is holding its breath as it awaits the substance of these strategic decisions. Let’s hope it’s not much longer now.

 

Read SURF’s full response to the Scottish Parliamentary Committee’s pre-budget call for views on our policy consultation page.