Publication: Sustainability of public finances: the Scottish Government's approach to efficiency - Audit scope

The Scottish Government faces a challenging fiscal position. It has set out plans to respond to this challenge across a range of strategies, including actions to prioritise public spending, increase economic growth, and ensure a strategic approach to tax. The Scottish Government has said that in the short to medium term, managing public spending will be the main way it can improve fiscal sustainability.

In January 2026 alongside its multi-year spending plans in the Scottish Spending Review, the Scottish Government set out ambitious efficiency and reform plans. These plans aim to make cumulative, recurring savings of £1.5 billion across the public sector through efficiencies, improved productivity, workforce reductions and service reforms.

This audit will assess the Scottish Government’s planning and delivery of efficiencies and productivity as part of its approach fiscal sustainability. It will examine the scale of planned efficiency and productivity savings, the effectiveness of the Scottish Government’s planning, oversight and leadership of its plans, and consider how well placed it is to deliver them.