About Us
The Scottish Futures Trust is a Limited Company, wholly owned by Scottish Ministers. It was established on 10 September 2008 and is led by a Board of five Non Executive Directors chaired by Sir Angus Grossart. An interim executive team was formed in December 2008 and Chief Executive, Barry White, took up office on 1 May 2009.
The Scottish Futures Trust will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of infrastructure investment in Scotland. We will work collaboratively with public bodies and industry to obtain better value for money and ultimately deliver high quality public services and infrastructure for the people of Scotland.
The Scottish Futures Trust will pursue value for money by operating across the whole public sector and by delivering benefits and savings wherever possible at each point in the infrastructure investment cycle. From needs identification, options investigation and investment appraisal; through financing, procurement, design and construction; to life cycle management, maintenance and disposal, the SFT will bring value and professional expertise.
We operate independently of the Scottish Government and are in a prime position to seek out and pursue opportunities to increase value for money across all public infrastructure sectors.
The SFT will learn from international best practice and with our own distinct style and independent ethos deliver value for Scotland. The creation of specialist organisations to support public infrastructure investment has already proved successful: Partnerships British Columbia in Canada, Partnerships Victoria in Australia, Strategic Investment Board in Northern Ireland, NDFA in the Republic of Ireland and Partnerships for Schools in England are all well established in helping procure and deliver public infrastructure. SFT will not simply follow those models but its overall goal of improving value for money is one that is shared. The SFT will lead through innovation and help provide excellent public infrastructure.
SFT’s role is part radical conversion but to a greater extent additional. The additional benefits and scope for delivering greater value will come from SFT’s independence and in house expertise. The SFT’s arm’s length structure provides greater freedom of action and an opportunity to actively look across sectors and markets to bring forward initiatives built on co-operation, collaboration and the determination to deliver. The bringing together of these roles, aligned with our ability to collaborate with all key Scottish public sector delivery bodies, will support the over-riding and unwavering pursuit of delivering value for money in all infrastructure investment.
Our Governance
SFT is a company limited by shares, wholly owned by Scottish Ministers. SFT will operate independently of Scottish Government, with the shareholder relationship defined in a Management Statement and Financial Memorandum.
Our Board
Non Executive Board members of the Scottish Futures Trust are appointed by Scottish Ministers. The Board has five members who together have considerable experience of the public and private sectors.
Sir Angus Grossart, Chair; Graeme Bisset, Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Audit Commitee; Colin Maclean, Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Remuneration Commitee; Jim Fletcher, Non-Executive Director and member of the Audit Commitee; and Fiona Mackenzie Non-Executive Director and member of the Remuneration Commitee
Our Staffing Structure
Following a very successful recruitment drive in Autumn 2009 SFT’s staff level at 15 December 2009 is 21. This includes 12 permanent members of staff, four secondees and five temporary employees. SFT was encouraged by the high calibre of the candidates seeking to join the organisation and by the high numbers of applicants - more than 50 per post.
This recruitment has resulted in the creation of a team of top quality experienced professionals who bring highly developed commercial skills from across the public and private sectors to support SFT’s drive to deliver value for money. The team functions as a centre of expertise and is available to support any public sector body making significant investment in infrastructure.
Challenging times require good people and by having such expertise in-house SFT will reduce the reliance on expensive consultants while retaining knowledge at the heart of the public sector.
SFT’s decision to appoint a strong and experienced commercial team has been further validated by the ‘Commercial skills for complex projects’ report from the National Audit Office, published in November 2009. The report highlighted that the value for money on 43 major projects, worth a combined £200 billion, was at risk because of “significant weaknesses in the [UK] Government’s commercial skills and expertise”.
Biographies of key team members are here and the SFT paybands are here.
Working with Other Public Sector Organisations
With a shared aim of delivering the highest quality public services, SFT will seek to develop a positive working relationship with public sector organisations. Through positive engagement and decisive action the SFT will identify opportunities for collaboration and deploy skills that are not always readily available across the public sector.
A communication and stakeholder liaison strategy will be developed to ensure that public sector bodies engaging with us are aware of the support we can give as well as the limits that exist. Clear prioritisation and agreed goals, as any engagement begins, will underpin effective support.
Relationships with the Private Sector
The role of the private sector is crucial to the successful delivery of infrastructure. The public sector benefits from a strong and active private sector to: provide sufficient competition as a driver of value for money; deploy risk management capabilities; develop innovative approaches; and the ability to programme manage and deliver wide-ranging projects. The importance of the construction industry to local and national economies is also recognised.
SFT will seek to make procurement more efficient to avoid duplication and the waste of often costly private sector resources, the cost of such waste inevitably flows through to end pricing and helping avoid waste will provide a benefit to the public sector through improved value for money.
Sustainability and Design Quality
To help promote the development of sustainable communities we recognise that sustainability in the widest sense is a key driver for SFT when considering the development of infrastructure and delivery solutions. Economic, environmental and social sustainability will be addressed in the early stages of project development and will become an inherent part of procurement and delivery in order to facilitate sustainable economic growth locally and nationally and to minimise adverse environmental impact.
The positive impact of high quality design will be supported at all stages, from procurement through to delivery.
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