Chamber and committees

The next item is to take evidence on public administration in the Scottish Government. We are joined by the permanent secretary to the Scottish Government, John-Paul Marks. Mr Marks is accompanied by Scottish Government officials: Lesley Fraser, director general corporate; Paul Johnston; director general communities; and Jackie McAllister, chief financial officer. I welcome you all to the meeting, and I invite Mr Marks to make a short opening statement.

I am impressed by your enthusiasm for change and innovation. You touched on the outcomes in the national performance framework. Over lunch, we will be hearing from Government officials about the NPF. On 24 February, you said to the Public Audit Committee:

“We want to build on the national performance framework and integrate it with our accounts to give us a good record of how delivery is translating into outcomes.”—[Official Report, Public Audit Committee, 24 February 2022; c 12.]

Where are we on that pathway?

Well, clearly, you are at odds with the committee—which represents four political parties—on this issue. I know that colleagues want to explore that matter in greater detail, so I will allow them to do so.

I have one more question—Lesley Fraser was here last week, and I am sure that she can guess what I am going to ask. Mr Swinney said:

“the permanent secretary is not an individual; they are an office holder.”—[Official Report, Finance and Public Administration Committee, 26 April 2022; c 7.]

Do you agree with that?

Thank you for that clarification. Colleagues are champing at the bit, so I will open out the session. I will go first to Daniel Johnson.

On that note, I will end the meeting, which has been long. I appreciate the permanent secretary’s responses to the committee’s questions. We will continue to explore issues relating to public administration in government.

That concludes the public part of today’s meeting. The next item, which is consideration of appointments and reappointments to the Scottish Fiscal Commission, will be in private.

Thank you for that and for your earlier response. I will open up the session to colleagues round the table. The first person to ask questions will be John Mason, to be followed by Daniel Johnson.

Thank you very much. That concludes our questions for the moment. We will let you know, Dr Lombardi.

I welcome to the meeting Professor Graeme Roy, who is nominated as chair of the Scottish Fiscal Commission. As before, we will move straight to questions. [Interruption.] Who stole my questions during the interval? Ah, that is what it is—I wrote them on a completely different set of paper.

You have made it clear in your statement that you are passionate about the Scottish economy, Professor Roy. Why do you want to chair the Scottish Fiscal Commission and what would you change, introduce and improve to enhance the work of the commission?

You have talked a lot about communication; for example, in your statement you said:

“I would be keen to use my networks, including via the ESRC Economic Observatory, to extend the profile of the SFC.”

Can you talk a bit more about that?

Thank you very much.