Chamber and committees

I look forward to getting some sort of detail on that. We will move on, but given the timescale and the fact that you have been aware of the matter for a year, there were plenty of opportunities to bring it to the SCPA and apprise us that it was coming up and that it was an issue. It is disappointing that that did not happen.

We move on to questions from Mark Ruskell.

Under agenda item 3, we will take evidence on Audit Scotland’s annual report and accounts for the year to 31 March 2024, as well as the auditor’s report on the accounts. Members can find copies of those documents, as well as a management letter from Alexander Sloan, in paper 1 of their meeting papers.

From Audit Scotland, I welcome Alan Alexander, who is the chair of the board; Stephen Boyle, who is the Auditor General for Scotland; Vicki Bibby, who is the chief operating officer; Martin Walker, who is the director of corporate support; and Stuart Dennis, who is the corporate finance manager.

I invite Professor Alexander and the Auditor General to make short introductory statements.

Thank you. We will move straight to questions.

On the table on page 29, Audit Scotland reports that the budgeted total resource that it required from Parliament was £18.471 million in 2023-24. That includes £12.2 million of cash requirement which was sought by Audit Scotland in its 2023-24 budget proposal and approved by the SCPA on 14 December 2022, and a further £6.271 million of non-cash resource, which was required to provide resource cover for additional lease costs. Approval for that additional resource has not been sought from, nor given by, the SCPA.

In the past, all budget items have come before the SCPA, as is required—indeed, pension accounting charges used to come forward in the spring adjustments. Why, therefore, was approval of that item not brought to the SCPA in the normal way?

There is no cash outlay, but you will undoubtedly be aware from previous years that pension adjustments, similarly, do not have a cash outlay but go through an approval process.

So, you are only interested in the cash side and not in any notional figures.

Members have no further questions, so I thank you for your attendance. We will suspend briefly for change of witnesses.

Agenda item 4 is to take evidence on “Quality of public audit in Scotland: Annual report 2023-24”. This is our final evidence session today. I welcome back from Audit Scotland Alan Alexander, chair of the board; Stephen Boyle, Auditor General for Scotland; and Vicki Bibby, chief operating officer. I also welcome Owen Smith, who is senior manager, audit quality and appointments at Audit Scotland.

We will move straight to questions. From looking at the different themes and the suggestions that have been made, to what extent have the 2022-23 recommendations been actioned, given the decrease in the results that has been identified in 2023-24?

When was the application made to the Government for that additional funding, or notional funding?

Before Owen Smith gives us information, it might be interesting to note that the audit quality survey results for the audit services group have declined from 2022-23 levels, and they are in a low position compared with those for other audit providers. It might be good to touch on that.

I have one or two random questions. Given the number of vacancies that Audit Scotland has reported and the recruitment challenges that you have previously noted, can you explain the decision to approve an early release at a cost of £75,000?