Chamber and committees

Auditor general, I would like to expand on what the convener has been saying about governance and so on.

Exhibit 1 in your report shows some reporting lines. According to the exhibit, the ethical standards commissioner reports to two bodies, depending on the source of a complaint—either to the Standards Commission for Scotland or to the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee. What oversight of the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland do those bodies have?

Still looking at exhibit 1, under the SPCB, you have an advisory audit board. Can you describe what that is and what it does?

Did the SPCB receive reports from the advisory audit board? I understand that the AAB within the office of theCommissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland failed to meet and did not do its job, but presumably the advisory audit board that is linked to the SPCB was still functioning and the SPCB was receiving reports. What kind of reports was it receiving?

Has that been put in place now?

In your report, you talked about

“The dual task of meeting core business demands alongside progressing the remaining auditor recommendations means that significant pressures on the Commissioner’s Office are likely to continue in the coming year.”

You mentioned that point in your opening remarks as well. Could you expand on some of those pressures and what action needs to be taken to address them?

What reporting would you have expected?

To some extent, you have addressed my second question, which is about staffing and capacity concerns that were evident in 2021-22. Are you satisfied that the workforce capacity has now been resolved?

Do you have a view on that, Dominic?

SMEs are very varied in terms of size. They can range from having a few people to having up to 30, 40 or 50 staff. They employ the vast majority of people in Scotland. The most recent figure that I saw for the whole of Scotland—although it might be dated now—was 75 per cent of workers being with SMEs. I do not doubt that that will be reflected in the Grangemouth area. The problem comes with their size. How does a small businessman squeeze out the time from trying to run his business to engage with planning for the transition—which it will be essential for SMEs to be part of—and with the costs that are involved around that? It is a difficult one.

Those points were well made.

I will move on to another area: small and medium-sized enterprises. In last week’s evidence session, the committee heard that there was a lack of systematic engagement with SMEs on planning for transition.

A huge number of SMEs in the Grangemouth area must be feeding off the complex. By virtue of their size, it is difficult for SMEs to give time and to invest in the process, which could limit their ability to engage with the transition. Are there any effective models of engagement that could address those constraints and enable better or greater participation? Their participation will be vital.

Pat, perhaps you can kick off on that.