Our recent report on public services and productivity in Scotland we published a series of blogs on the topic

@davehawkey.bsky.social outlines the limits of comparing teacher pay between Scotland and England, and not emphasising an international perspective

t.co/hyJDAaChsj

What makes a good Holyrood 2026 manifesto? | IPPR A good manifesto, in general terms, must surely blend a positive vision for the country with a credible and coherent policy programme which addresses voter

With the starting gun fired on the 2026 Holyrood election, the public deserve an honest conversation about governing Scotland.

Party manifestos will be soon be released - which begs the question: What makes a good Holyrood election manifesto in 2026? Here are 5 tests:

www.ippr.org/articles/wha...

Our latest report warns further public sector job cuts could hollow out essential services just as demand rises.

Public services need more investment not less.

📣@CaseySmithIPPR outlines how choices made now will shape Scotland’s public services for years.

Plans to reduce public sector workforce when satisfaction and access to public services is under strain is...a choice. With growing and increasingly complex demands on the state, now is not the time to cut state services further. Rather genuine public sector reform is needed.

Read our latest report

“It’s essential that the UK and Scottish governments work together to ensure this project is pushed forward and that ground is broken on the factory as soon as possible."

Read our full response to Vesta's decision to invest in a new nacelle and hub factory in Scotland⤵️
www.ippr.org/media-office...

The headline child poverty rate (21% average across financial years 2022/23, 2023/24 and 2024/25) does not bode well for Scottish government to hit its 2030 target (10%).

But with changes to the methodology behind the stats there is noise in the data that we should avoid over-interpreting.

With Scotland going into a major election, parties pledging to tackle child poverty must be clear that the issue is a structural feature of an unequal society.

We respond to today's child poverty stats⤵️
www.ippr.org/media-office...

Good to be at Parliament today hearing from @futureeconscot.bsky.social’s Funding Scotland’s Future report - important heading into the election all parties get real about how we raise the revenues necessary to deliver on public priorities

There are plenty of assumptions about public servants and their attitude to change - we spoke with workers across the public sector & heard their thoughts on public service reform - unsurprisingly views are more nuanced than commentators and politicians would have you believe!

Will technology reduce the cost of delivering public services? | IPPR The Scottish government has huge ambitions for digitising public services. In late November 2025, first minister John Swinney stated that:  “…the potential

Rapid technological advances and the implementation of AI has the potential to transform healthcare - however this does not necessarily translate into reduced costs for public services.

Read our latest blog on the limits of new technology in making healthcare cheaper

www.ippr.org/articles/wil...

Scotland still feels hemmed in by the idea that the welfare state is purely burdensome, rather than a springboard to national prosperity and a more dynamic economy.

Other countries manage better outcomes with higher rates of spending and investment in social infrastructure.

Read out latest report

More than a safety net: The welfare state as springboard to economic success and a better country | IPPR It is widely proposed that higher social spending – especially in the form of social security benefits – is damaging to the economy. Yet the evidence prese

📢 It's launch day!🚀

💷 Social spending ≠ economic damage.

💪Plenty of countries prove you can have strong social security and strong economies.

Read our new report, More than a Safety Net ⤵️

@stephenkb.bsky.social @davehawkey.bsky.social @caseysmithippr.bsky.social

www.ippr.org/articles/mor...

For months, we have been digging into a big myth — that strong social protection holds back economic growth.🔍

Spoiler: it doesn’t.💪

We launch our findings tomorrow in our report 'More than a Safety Net'. Stay tuned.🚀

For now, hear it from @stephenboydippr.bsky.social ⤵️

Apples and oranges? Scottish teachers’ pay in international context | IPPR Ongoing pressures on the Scottish government budget are firing debate about the public sector paybill. Is the public sector in Scotland unmanageably big? A

📢 Starting today, we will publish a series of blogs as part of our project on Employment, Productivity and Reform in the Scottish Public Sector.

First up, this blog by @davehawkey.bsky.social looking at teacher pay per pupil in Scotland in an international context. ⤵️

www.ippr.org/articles/app...

Scream it from the rooftops

🧵

on.ft.com/3XGBvuZ via @FT

As the Chancellor pulls back on changes to income tax, there are lessons from Scotland - the most taxed part of the UK is also least opposed to further rises. Politicians should be less frightened by tax reform so long as they make an argument for it.

See blog below👇

Now we're onto Scottish democracy. Very interested to hear on people's opinions on democracy from a devolved government...

High levels of support from parents in Scotland for reform of UK child maintenance. The current system pushes too many parents away. We @ipprscotland.bsky.social find 78% would like to see greater state support on offer for parents who struggle to make arrangements work.
opfs.org.uk/get-involved...

📊 New polling from @ipprscotland.bsky.social shows overwhelming support for reform of the child maintenance system.

Read the latest blog from @IPPRScotland, part of our #TransformingChildMaintenance project with @fifegingerbread.bsky.social

📄 opfs.org.uk/get-involved...

Better for everyone: a new vision for child maintenance - One Parent Families Scotland Ambitious proposals for systemic reform of the Child Maintenance Service to improve financial security for children in single parent families.

🚸Too many children are missing out on the child maintenance support they deserve.
It’s time for change!
We
@ipprscotland.bsky.social
alongside @opfs.org.uk
,
@fifegingerbread.bsky.social

are calling for a fairer, safer system.
📄 opfs.org.uk/betterforeve...
#TransformingChildMaintenance

Excellent @IPPRScotland
session on future of Scotland’s industrial strategy with Ivan McKee and Sara Thiam crucial discussion on honing Scotland’s comparative advantages and adapting to a world with rising trade barriers. #snpconference2025

#SNP25 | Maximising economic opportunities across all Scotland's regions
🕠 17.00-18.00 | Meeting Room 1, Level 1, TECA (inside the secure zone)
➡️@shonarobison.bsky.social
➡️Stacey Dingwwall, FSB Scotland
➡️Ross Martin, Adviser on regional economics
➡️@stephenboydippr.bsky.social

#SNP25 | GB Energy and the acceleration of renewables in Scotland
🕠 12.30-13.30 | Meeting Room 1, Level 1, TECA (inside the secure zone)
➡️ Stephen Flynn MSP
➡️Damien Zachlod, EnBW
➡️Zoe Holliday, Community Energy Scotland
➡️@davehawkey.bsky.social

With @enbw-ag.bsky.social

#SNP25 | A modern industrial strategy for Scotland
🕠 09.15-10.15 | Meeting Room 1, Level 1, TECA (inside the secure zone)
➡️Ivan McKee MSP
➡️Sara Thiam, Prosper
➡️@stephenboydippr.bsky.social

📢 We are in Aberdeen this weekend at the SNP conference, hosting three fringe events. A conference pass is required to attend the events. Hope to see you there. Details below ⤵️

💷The investments in Scotland announced by the Chancellor today are welcome, so long as they create the kind of manufacturing jobs that provide security and opportunity for workers in the long-term, and the benefits are felt in the wider community.

@caseysmithippr.bsky.social 🗣️

IPPR Scotland: 10th Anniversary Conference | IPPR Ten years ago, in the wake of the Scottish Independence referendum, there emerged a clear need for a think tank to support progressive policymaking and fos

🎉10th ANNIVERSARY🎉

A decade ago, IPPR Scotland was established in a big moment of change to support progressive policymaking.

📢Now, as Scotland faces fresh challenges, we’re hosting a major conference to ask: What next?

🗓️Save the date: 29 Oct 2025

www.ippr.org/events/ippr-...

Filling the funding gap: at what cost to Scotland’s public services? | IPPR The MTFS was accompanied by a Fiscal Sustainability Delivery Plan which was preceded a week earlier by the Public Sector Reform Strategy.  The MTFS did not

📢 Scotland’s Medium Term Financial Strategy is out — and it warns of a £2.6bn resource funding gap by 2029/30. The big question is: how will it be filled? @stephenboydippr.bsky.social's latest blog addresses this question 🧵(1/4)
www.ippr.org/articles/fil...

🎯The broad settlement for Scotland in today's Spending Review is welcome but not enough to meet its fiscal challenges.

👀All eyes should now be on the upcoming industrial strategy.

@stephenboydippr.bsky.social reacts ⤵️

Full statement on our website: www.ippr.org/media-office...

🗳️Voters in Hamilton have shown they want to a fairer, greener future, but can Scottish politicians afford to be complacent? Certainly not.

✅2026 cannot be a contest mired in negativity but a battle for the high ground.

@stephenboydippr.bsky.social