The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) in Scotland has published a 15-point blueprint for reform and investment by the Scottish Government in its 2009/10 budget.

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) in Scotland has published a 15-point blueprint for reform and investment by the Scottish Government in its 2009/10 budget.

It says ministers should scrap proposals for a local income tax, adding that it would cost £20m in 2010/11 in preparatory and set-up arrangements alone. "This cash should instead be deployed for GDP-enhancing investments."

The CBI goes on: "The strategy of freezing the council tax for three years is timely and welcome, and ministers should also consider removing the barriers which prevent local authorities from providing council tax rebates to those who make their homes more energy efficient."

CBI Scotland endorses the report on business growth by Holyrood's Enterprise Committee, which called for a re-balancing of public spending towards investment that supports wealth creation, such as skills and transport infrastructure. The CBI "wants to see the Scottish Government set out a timetable for achieving this goal".

It goes on: "The Scottish Government should review new policies and spending decisions against a single benchmark: will it aid the economic recovery?"

Each devolved government department and public agency should "publish a statement demonstrating their contribution to the economic growth objective and the value for money they have provided".

The CBI welcomes the decision to accelerate £100m from the social housing capital programme, to be spent during 2008/09 and 2009/10, saying it was "the model that ought to be used ... other opportunities to accelerate the approval of budgeted activity should similarly be explored as a matter of urgency".

It adds: "Ministers should ensure, while its proposed Scottish Futures Trust funding model continues to be developed, that there are no delays to progressing public sector building projects funded through other mechanisms."

The CBI calls for full funding of the Small Business Bonus Scheme and says ministers should "resist the use of the tax-varying power as it would place a costly and complex administrative burden on both businesses and public sector employers alike".

It wants "a more coherent approach to public sector reform, involving far greater private sector delivery of public services", the privatisation of Scottish Water, and "a more effective approach to capturing innovation through public procurement".