Public sector productivity mapping the metrics

During 2024 and 2025, the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) investigated Scotland’s productivity challenges through a series of events, some organised in partnership with other organisations. In the first instance the RSE considered the overall challenges in the UK and dived deeper into the factors that affect Scotland’s performance, followed by an analysis of the micro dimension, asking how we can improve productivity within our SMEs. The last event in the series took the form of a roundtable organised in collaboration with the Office for National Statistics and the Scottish Leaders Forum. The event focused on exploring how to measure public sector productivity in a manner that helps guide policy decisions and ultimately improves public sector efficiency.

Download the public sector productivity mapping the metrics report (348KB, PDF)

At the centre of these discussions stood the Office for National Statistics’ recently published two-year review of public service measures and the proposed 120 recommendations to deliver a world-leading set of metrics for the whole of the UK.

Participants reflected on the opportunities for improving public service productivity by designing policies in response to a set of cross-sector metrics at the macro level. However, they also noted that there are significant challenges associated with identifying universally comparable productivity metrics for such a broad base of services. Moreover, there are regional differences to account, both in terms of metrics used, but also in what is valued in terms of outcomes for public services in different parts of the UK.

Introduction

During 2024 and 2025, the Royal Society of Edinburgh investigated Scotland’s productivity challenges. We first considered the overall challenges in the UK and dived deeper into the factors that affect Scotland’s performance, then we turned to the micro dimensions, looking at the state of Scottish businesses and how we can improve productivity within our SMEs.

For the final chapter of our productivity series, we have explored the obstacles the public sector faces at both Scottish and UK level in boosting not only its productivity output but also its outcomes. This included considering current challenges and opportunities across the UK, but especially in Scotland, including factors such as the availability of limited public finances and perceived changes in public opinion and public confidence in governmental action at different levels, asking how we can improve the efficiency and quality of our treasured public services.

In collaboration with the Office for National Statistics and the Scottish Leaders Forum, we hosted a roundtable exploring how to measure public sector productivity in a manner that helps guide policy decisions and, more importantly, how to improve public sector efficiency. During the session, held on the 24th of April 2025, we heard from Richard Heys (Deputy Director for Well-being, Innovation and Productivity and Deputy Chief Economist) and Katherine Kent (Deputy Director Well-being, Innovation and Productivity (Acting) and Joint Head of Profession for Operational Research) from the ONS about the two-year review of public service measures and the proposed 120 recommendations to deliver a world-leading set of metrics for the whole of the UK. Many of these relate to the specific challenges faced by aggregating data across the devolved governments, which often operate different service designs and collect data in different formats. We also heard from the Scottish Government’s Statistician Unit Head, Gayle Mackie, who set out why public service productivity is important in Scotland; what the Scottish Government has learned from the ONS work and potential future activities.

This work should be considered alongside the roundtable that the RSE hosted on public service reform in 2024 which outlined the need to turn “rhetoric into reality.” That discussion focused on the kinds of shifts in public service practice that need to occur if Scotland’s public services are to be effective and sustainable in the long term.

Building on these activities and the roundtable discussion, this paper reflects on “how, when, and why” a clearer understanding of good-quality public sector productivity data helps to inform the kinds of decisions and actions required to make progress on a programme of nationwide reform, which can improve the effectiveness of public services in fiscally challenging times

In conclusion

Scotland’s Public Service Leaders, all spheres of Government and wider should continue to work with the ONS to improve the metrics to more accurately measure Scotland’s Public Sector Productivity, noting this will also improve UK measures. When reviewing the metrics for Scotland, there should be consideration of what Scotland values in terms of outcomes from its public services.

Understanding micro-level productivity is crucial for policymakers and public services leaders to identify where improvements can be made.

We should recognise that aiming for universally comparable productivity metrics across all public service sectors may be over-ambitious, and instead adopt a phased approach that focuses first on sector-specific progress and regional differences.

Priority should be given to developing robust measures within individual sectors, enabling meaningful tracking over time and across regions before extending to wider cross-sector comparisons.

More comparative research should be done to understand the differences in public service productivity between the regions and between the public, private, and third sectors that deliver public services.

The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted the collection of data, and alternative sources of data should be identified to address these gaps, including capturing details for the “return to normal” in different sectors (e.g. education).

We should be cautious in setting productivity ratio targets within and across public services. Measures should be used to guide improvements rather than setting unrealistic targets.

In setting priorities for further work in this complex world, priority should be given to work that can be seen as likely to yield tangible benefits for the quantity and quality of public services delivered in Scotland, this includes acknowledging that approaches used to measure productivity in the private sector do not necessarily transfer easily or logically to the complex work of public services.

Download the policy advice

Download the public sector productivity mapping the metrics report (348KB, PDF)