Policing - the status quo is not an option for COSLA either
Who said it was? No-one could sensibly argue for this as whichever option is ultimately pursued, there is less funding available and radical changes, improvements and efficiencies will be required.
Yes, there is room for efficiency in the police; at both force level and centrally through the Scottish Police Support Agency (SPSA). Yes, there is room for better joint working and collaboration. Yes, the various forces and services should be delivering savings through smarter commissioning. But funding pressures mean that we have to deliver these efficiencies now, not in three years.
Local Government has, since the introduction of the Best Value regime, time and time again demonstrated its ability to deliver more efficient, effective and economic services. We are not afraid of challenge, change or taking difficult decisions. We can deliver the savings required without the need for constitutional and organisational upheaval.
The Scottish Government cannot produce the evidence that supports the need to rip what we have apart and pull control to the centre as the means of delivering these things. It is foolhardy and reckless in our current financial environment and all that will be gained will be greater power for the Scottish Government over a huge new Scottish quango. Lost will be the genuine subsidiarity and local accountability that our Government values, and considerable numbers of frontline police.