Minutes: 02 May 2024

1. Decision on taking business in private:

The Committee agreed to take agenda items 3, 4 and 5 in private.

2. The 2022/23 audit of the Scottish Prison Service:

The Committee took evidence from—

Neil Rennick, Director-General Education and Justice and Catriona Dalrymple, Director of Justice, Scottish Government;

Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive, Gerry O'Donnell, Director of Finance and Allister Purdie, Interim Director of Operations, Scottish Prison Service.

3. The 2022/23 audit of the Scottish Prison Service (In Private):

The Committee considered the evidence heard at agenda item 2 and took further evidence from—

Stephen Boyle, Auditor General for Scotland;

Michael Oliphant, Audit Director and Tommy Yule, Senior Audit Manager, Audit Scotland.

4. The 2022/23 audit of the Scottish Prison Service (In Private):

The Committee considered the evidence heard at agenda items 2 and 3 and agreed the key issues to be included in its draft report.  

The Committee also agreed to correct an error in the minutes of 7 March 2024 relating to Criminal courts backlog.

5. Work programme (In Private):

The Committee considered its work programme. In relation to the briefing, Investing in Scotland's infrastructure, the Committee agreed to invite the Scottish Government, the Scottish Prison Service and the Scottish Futures Trust to give oral evidence at a future meeting.

The Committee agreed its future approach to the scrutiny of Major Capital Projects.

The Committee considered correspondence in relation to the 2022/23 audit of the Scottish Government Consolidated Accounts from the Permanent Secretary to the Scottish Government and agreed to await correspondence from the Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Net Zero and Energy before considering its next steps.

The Committee agreed its approach to the handling of correspondence received in relation to South Lanarkshire College.

In relation to the 2022/23 audit of NHS Forth Valley, the Committee agreed to write to the Scottish Government's NHS Forth Valley Assurance Board.