MERGERS of quangos and other public bodies are saving £78 million, some £5m more than first predicted, the Scottish Government claims.
The figure would have been better but for the merger of Skills Development Scotland with learndirect Scotland and Careers Scotland, along with parts of the local enterprise network. This had been expected to save £57m but achieved under £39m due to voluntary redundancies.
The details were revealed at Holyrood's Public Audit Committee. A note said: "The original estimates of costs and net savings did not anticipate further voluntary exit schemes. These schemes will generate further substantial savings beyond the period covered."
From 2008/09 to 2012/13 the merger of bodies or them brought into the Government was meant to save £73m but that has been bettered in spite of the Skills Development Scotland being one of two cases out of 19 where savings were less than expected.
A Government spokeswoman said: "We will continue the successful programme of simplification, looking for further opportunities to streamline our public bodies, taking every opportunity to reduce costs and bureaucracy and improve service delivery."
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