Letter from the Convener to the Chief Executive of Bord na Gaidhlig, 9 February 2022
Dear Shona,
As you will be aware, the Public Audit Committee considered the Auditor General for Scotland’s report on the 2020/21 audit of Bòrd na Gàidhlig at its meeting on 13 January 2022. A link to the Official Report of the meeting can be found here.
During the meeting, the Committee noted the significant progress that has been made by the Bòrd since the 2018/19 audit of Bòrd na Gàidhlig: Governance and transparency. The Committee wishes to commend the progress that has been made, particularly in a relatively short period of time.
The Committee recognises the importance of embedding a culture of continuous improvement within the organisation and notes the work the Bòrd is undertaking in this regard. The Committee considers that this work must be underpinned by stretching key performance indicators to drive continuous improvement in the medium to longer term.
As such, the Committee would be interested to understand the Bòrd’s approach to setting targets against its key performance indicators, to what extent they are considered to be sufficiently challenging and whether work is ongoing to revise internal targets.
For example, with regard to key performance indicator 2, which measures the extent to which people agree with the statement “Gaelic makes a difference to my life”, the Committee notes that a measure of success is that four young people participated in summer placements funded by the Bòrd. The Committee would be interested to understand whether a particular target was set for these summer placements and whether there was scope for more than four placements to have been achieved.
The Committee also considers it essential for board members to be equipped with the right skills to discharge its scrutiny functions effectively. As you will be aware, this was an area of concern explored in detail by our predecessor Committee in Session 5 in relation to the 2018/19 audit of Bòrd na Gàidhlig.
The Committee notes that the Auditor General for Scotland highlights in his 2020/21 audit of Bòrd na Gàidhlig report that two new Board members have recently been appointed to the board. The Committee seeks detailed information on the training that was put in place for these new board members, and what will be put in place for any other new board members when they are appointed.
I would be grateful if you would provide a response to this letter by 9 March 2022.
Yours sincerely,
Richard Leonard MSP
Convener