Sponsoring of Royal Society of Edinburgh Roundtable

I was pleased to sponsor a Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) Roundtable at Holyrood on the topic of:

“Public service reform in Scotland: how do we turn rhetoric into reality?”

Chair Shonaig Macpherson FRSE chaired, with speeches from me and Professor Michael Keating FRSE, Emeritus Professor of Politics at the University of Aberdeen and Honorary Professor at the University of Edinburgh.

An engaging and insightful roundtable connected academic, third sector and industry experts with cross-party MSPs to inform the debate on public service reform ahead of the Scottish Parliament election in May 2026.

The discussion was based on a report published by the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) in partnership with Audit Scotland to explore how to move beyond diagnosing the well-established challenges to providing realistic, impactful solutions that can turn the rhetoric of Scotland’s public service reform into a reality that benefits all citizens.

As this parliamentary session is soon coming to an end, this is the perfect moment to review the progress made with regarding Scotland’s public services over the past years and analyse how we ensure, as a Parliament and country, that these are put on a sustainable footing going forward.

It’s no secret that whatever political party makes up the next Scottish Government as of May, will have to take some difficult decisions to make, to ensure public services are future proof and provide good value for money for the people of Scotland.