Chamber and committees

Is there enough information to enable somebody to put together a proposal?

I am not getting the impression that there is a process of proactively checking which suppliers are not getting work.

Is there any support for smaller suppliers on making best use of the framework once they are on it?

Do you know how many companies have not received any work?

The Auditor General’s briefing paper says that

“it is difficult to get a complete picture ... of how”

the Scottish Government

“is directing funding to”

its infrastructure

“priorities.”

That seems to be because there is limited supporting documentation on how projects are prioritised. I do not know whether “limited supporting documentation” is some kind of code for poor-quality record keeping, but there is no indication of how those projects contribute to wider policy outcomes, such as gender equality, climate change and so forth. Do you agree with that?

Do you agree with the Auditor General’s briefing?

Okay.

Another comment from the Auditor General was that it was

“difficult to track the progress and spending of individual”

IIP

“projects and programmes.”

Do you agree with that?

I have one final question for clarification. Alyson Stafford, you said that the Scottish Government had accepted all the recommendations in the briefing, but you have also indicated that there are parts of it that you do not accept. You have indicated one of them. Are there other areas in the briefing that you have reservations about?

We appreciate that, but we take what the Auditor General says literally, and we assume that he has access to any information, documents and so on that are available. If he says that it is difficult to get a complete picture of how the Government is directing funding to infrastructure priorities, we tend to take that at face value. I hear what you say but does it mean that the Auditor General did not get full access to all the information that he needed, and that that led him to his conclusion?