Fully devolve council tax and business rates to local authorities
Local priorities cannot in anyway be accounted for in the way that local taxation operates…
Policies
These policy positions, previously set out in Reform Scotland reports and briefings, form our rolling manifesto
Pilot schemes to devolve health to local authority control.
The 14 health boards in Scotland are quangos, with little direct accountability to their populations.…
Give people greater choice over their GP surgery.
Our work has revealed real differences exist with regards to access arrangements across Scotland’s GP…
Reinstate the the split in funding between central and local government and giving each council a seat on the Scottish Police Authority
Reform Scotland fundamentally disagrees with the idea of a single police force across Scotland as…
Make police deployment an operational, as opposed to political, decision by removing the 1,000 extra officers pledge
Reform Scotland believes that this pledge should be removed and greater operational freedom be given…
Transfer all quango functions either to government departments, independent bodies or councils.
Quangos are not sufficiently accountable to the Scottish Parliament or the Scottish people. The current…
Have one Scottish department responsible for both the new tax and welfare powers due to be devolved to Scotland
Welfare expenditure is currently divided between two departments, HMRC and the Department for Work and…
Ensure every school and GP surgery has a website
Research carried out by Reform Scotland has highlighted the fact that a large number of…
Reform the administration of Carer’s Allowance
The UK system for taxing benefits is overly complicated, totally inefficient and not at all…
Do not vary the Scottish Rate of Income Tax from the UK level
Although Income Tax is due to be devolved to Scotland, the Scottish Government will not…
Scrap Air Passenger Duty.
A study by Edinburgh Airport has suggested that the Scottish Government’s pledge to cut the…
Introduce a virtual voucher to ensure parents are able to access their child’s nursery entitlement in any pre-school environment that meets the required standards.
As long as a partnership provider meets the standards set by both Education Scotland and…
Give every child the same basic entitlement to nursery education, regardless of when their birthday falls.
Entitlement to government-funded nursery provision begins the term after a child turns three. As a…
Give schools greater autonomy to ensure they are able to make decisions necessary to meet local priorities and circumstances.
Research by the OECD demonstrates that systems with high levels of autonomy tend to fare…