Public Service Reform Pathfinder (PSRP) is the overarching term used to describe a range of innovative projects and new ways of working that seek to effect a transformational change to service delivery by making a significant contribution to the key principles of public service reform, and in doing so achieve both local and national impact in terms of ambition, scope and strategic outcomes. PSRPs have the potential to provide significant learning for all parties and are expected to act as catalysts for other service reform initiatives.
It is the ambition of the public sector in Scotland is to deliver services which are among the most successful, effective and innovative in the world. The Scottish Executive is committed to improving the performance of local government and their partners, to lifting bureaucratic burdens and consolidating funding streams, to generating efficiencies and to supportng new ways of working to achieve public service reform. The Scottish Executive is keen to develop pathfinders that address the public's real concerns which are ultimately about actual conditions, rather than about the things which were meant to have changed them.
The Pathfinder Development Division within the Public Service Reform and Efficiency Group is supporting the development of a range of projects leading the way in terms of public service reform. This approach demonstrates the Executive's commitment to supporting bottom-up service reform and to new ways of working between central and local government.
Projects underway are building on work done with local authorities, partners and organisations for a number of proposals across the public sector, including outcome agreements. The Executive want to build on authorities' thinking and experience to develop pathfinders which can, as closely as possible, meet priorities of both ministers and those of authorities and their partners. The experience of developing pathfinders will help us learn how best to undertake a more extensive roll out in the longer term. The Executive is currently working to identify other potential 'Public Service Reform Pathfinders'.