Nicola Sturgeon has refused to rule out slashing the number of Scotland’s councils after next week’s Holyrood election.
The First Minister also kept the possibility of merging local authorities with health boards a live issue during an interview with ITV Borders.
Her comments come after the SNP manifesto pledged to give more power to head teachers and parents in schools, hand more influence to community councils and possibly create education “regions”.
Asked if the changes mean all existing bodies will be needed, Ms Sturgeon said: “Perhaps not. What I’m not going to say given I’ve said it’s time to look at that in detail, I’m not going to sit here in an election campaign and preempt the outcome of that.
“I think this is a really good opportunity over the next couple of years to have a look at how all of the different bits of the governance of the country work together, so it is working as well as possible in terms of the structures and bureaucracies, so it is working as cost effectively as possible so that as much of the public pound as possible gets into public services.”
Sturgeon: Number of councils could be cut as reforms kick in
