Chamber and committees

I cannot comment on what has been reported in the press. However, I can tell you that, quite rightly and appropriately, the CMAL board appointed Mr Smith to carry out that investigation. It has a responsibility to do that, and my understanding is that CMAL was looking at all the allegations that were made in that programme by the BBC. The review must be presented to CMAL, which will need to review and publish it. It has committed to doing that, and it is the appropriate thing to do.

I do not think that I have said that. I have been at pains to say that part of the response has been improvements in record keeping. I am clear about that. There have been recommendations from the new permanent secretary about how decisions should be made and how things are recorded. I have observed that improvement in minute taking in the recent weeks after coming back into government.

Chris Wilcock, are you happy to answer that?

There is quite a lot to that, because there is a difference between ministerial direction, shareholder authorisation and a letter of comfort. A letter of comfort is what was provided. In the interests of time, I am happy to give a written explanation of what that was and what the committee is asking for.

Yes. I will not—I cannot—give you that answer.

I will ask Transport Scotland to review that, but, having looked again and read this committee’s report and the REC Committee report, I think that information was shared. Have improvements been made? Yes. However, I think that you wanted to direct your question to Transport Scotland.

The sponsorship is of CMAL, as the organisation, so the issue is the sponsorship of CMAL.

I think that I have already addressed that issue in other answers. Record keeping has improved. It is not that there were no records but that they did not give the level of satisfaction that they could have given. Specific meetings were identified in your report, as they were in the REC Committee report.

It is about ensuring that records—not just of meetings but, critically, of decisions that were taken—have improved. I do not know what guidance the permanent secretary has issued to civil servants, but I understand that communication has taken place, so improvements should happen, and they have happened over many years.

It is difficult because one is reflecting on what happened eight years ago in comparison with what is happening now and on improvements along the way. As I said in an answer to another question, the new permanent secretary has been quite clear as to what the expectation is with regard to the production of those records. Do any officials want to reflect on what the changes are and on how they have been communicated?

I add that I have a strong view on that, because I was the minister who brought in legislation on record management systems for public bodies, which stemmed from a very sad situation that affected children who had been in care and whose records were lost. I felt very strongly that we should always have records because of that. That was in a different circumstance, but it has implications for all public bodies. The issue is that we must have a record management system that enables retrieval. In terms of that legislation and implementation, that applies across all public bodies.

As you know, written authorities can happen in any area that is within ministerial control—not only this one—and they are issued very rarely. One of the questions that I have about the progress of it is whether it is in the current edition of the Scottish public finance manual or whether it will be and when. It has an impact on other areas. That is why I want to check on that. I went through your report identifying what was partially responded to and what was fully responded to. That area was partially responded to, but was it fully responded to? It will certainly be drawn to the attention of the Auditor General.

Going forward, we accept the committee’s recommendation that confirmation of written authorities should be published on the Scottish Government website. You made a specific request about the clerk to this committee automatically getting such confirmation. That information could be found on the website, but, as the Public Audit Committee, you have specific duties and responsibilities, and I just wanted to check that that will happen should there be a written authority at any time in the future.