Why has Scottish Government waited 20 years?

It’s interesting to see that Shetland’s MSP believes significant opportunities are available through wide-ranging reform of a public sector that she believes is no longer fit for purpose.

Public sector reform offers opportunities for Shetland, MSP says

If that’s the case, why has the Scottish Government waited for almost 20 years before it recognised the need for meaningful public sector reform?

The assertion that greater local control, and potentially greater autonomy, may lead to decision-making being brought closer to local communities may or may not be true, but when local control has not resulted in any evident improvement to existing local governance over the past several decades, it’s hard to see why this assertion might result in communities having greater influence in the future.

When every initiative brought forward by the SNP government over the past two decades has resulted in greater centralisation of services, as the proposed changes to NHS governance will also do, why should there be any belief in what they are now pushing for?

Leslie Sinclair
Kirkwall
Orkney