Reform Scotland

Economy

Where is energy in the Programme for Government? – Stuart Paton

On the same day that the First Minister announced his Programme for Government, the British Prime Minister announced an end to the de facto ban on onshore windfarms in England. That the announcement from Rishi Sunak was more material than anything Humza Yousaf had to say about energy shows how low the bar has been …

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Procurement : a provocation The wrong tool for the wrong job? – Helen Chambers

We are currently in the eye of a perfect storm in providing services for our communities, be that within public, private or voluntary sector spheres. Services are cracking, many with insufficient funding. Processes are not fit for purposes in many instances – especially around commissioning and procuring services. We are seeing vast cost increases at …

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Domestic policies deter people from moving to Scotland – Roy Leckie

It is hopefully understood by all politicians in Scotland, if not yet by most of the wider public, that Scotland faces a serious demographic challenge. Our population is rapidly ageing, and our rates of fertility and immigration are currently too low to prevent an impending decline in our numbers. There will soon not be enough …

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How can Scotland attract more migrants – Heather Rolfe

Migrants’ own decisions are the missing piece in Scotland’s migration puzzle Last Wednesday the Welcoming Committee for Hong Kongers, which is housed within British Future, held an event in Edinburgh jointly with Reform Scotland on the country’s immigration challenges. Emma Roddick MSP, Minister for Equalities, Migration and Refugees gave a thought-provoking keynote speech explaining that …

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Humza Yousaf takes a massive policy gamble – Gordon Hector

Humza Yousaf’s first few weeks have hardly been quiet. Last week he added to the cacophony, by teeing up a big change in SNP social policy.  The SNP has long trumpeted its universal benefits: free tuition, childcare, prescriptions, baby boxes, plus laptops, school meals, bicycles and bus transport for young people. The First Minister signalled …

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Citizen-empowering reform of personal data must be a priority – Alan Mitchell

Scotland’s First Minister and Priorities – a request How many priorities can the new First Minister cope with? In plain English a ‘priority’ is something you attend to first because of its importance or urgency. Which means that once you have more than a few, they aren’t ‘priorities’ any more – just another item in …

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Creative Industries: Scotland’s hidden superpower – Rachael Brown

During the pandemic we all consumed creative products, services, and experiences like never before. We devoured tv shows, ordered and consumed books, made music, generated ideas, bought fashion, created art, played games, recorded podcasts and took part in online classes in everything you could think off. Despite this, somehow the creative sector is still not …

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