Welcome to the Public Works blog.

Public Works is UNISON Scotland's campaign for jobs, services, fair taxation and the Living Wage. This blog will provide news and analysis on the delivery of public services in Scotland. We welcome comments and if you would like to contribute to this blog, please contact Kay Sillars k.sillars@unison.co.uk - For other information on what's happening in UNISON Scotland please visit our website.

Monday 6 January 2014

Poll shows Scots prepared to pay more for local services

A new Opinion Survey undertaken by MORI on behalf of Scotland’s first Commission on Strengthening Local Democracy should give politicians some confidence in addressing how to pay for local government.

The key findings include:

Two out of three Scots would be willing to pay more in Council Tax if they could be guaranteed that the money raised was to be spent on local services such as schools and care for older people.

More than seven in ten people feel that one size does not fit all in terms of service delivery and that local services should be delivered in ways that meet the needs of local people in their area.

Less than half of people think that Councils have enough money to deliver the services that they think their community needs.

This shows that the public understand that decent services have to be funded properly and fairly. The current Council Tax freeze is simply a sticking plaster on reform and worse, it is a regressive measure that favours the wealthiest households.

UNISON Scotland has published a paper on how to pay for local government that can be viewed here.

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