Chamber and committees

So the enterprise agencies are going to decide the priorities for their areas of responsibility.

If they are doing less, they will need fewer resources.

Finally, just for clarification, the level 4 spreadsheet accompanying the Scottish budget notes that the overall capital budget for the enterprise agencies is

“maintained in line with existing spending review capital plans”.

In real terms, the capital budgets of the three enterprise agencies reduce by 4.6 per cent in 2024-25, or by 24.6 per cent if financial transactions are included. What will be the impact of that?

Are they working under any guidelines?

Just as an extension of that, the decrease in the resource budget for the enterprise agencies and other national bodies is partly driven by the wider public sector efficiency programme. Can you set out more detail on the progress that has been made so far in your portfolio? What impact are the efficiencies expected to have on delivery, and what final outcome do you expect from the efficiency programme?

Auditor General, before I come to questions, from my perspective, this report has a different feel to it from other reports that you have produced. Some of the detail that is normally in your reports is not there. You talk about issues around governance, leadership and culture, and there is some explanation of that, but the report does not seem to go into the depth that is normally there. I am still sitting here thinking, “What has happened with leadership? Where is that demonstrably failing?” It is possible to infer a little from some of the things that are in the report, but there is nothing specific.

From the committee’s point of view, I am sure that every member simply wants to get a full understanding of the detail behind the comments that are made, so that we can make our own judgments.

I turn to financial sustainability. Paragraph 19 of the report says that, despite the savings of £25 million in 2023-24, there is a £15.6 million residual deficit. Can you tell us more about that deficit and what the short and long-term impacts will be if it is not addressed properly?

In the report, you clearly talk about

“the lead-in time needed”

to bring in those savings, and the lack of staffing capacity, which you touched on just now.

How did we get to a position in which, two and a half months before the end of the financial year, we are still £10 million out?

That sounds a bit gloomy.

I will highlight an issue that comes up fairly regularly. Is NHS Forth Valley using or managing vacancies to help to address the deficit?