Chamber and committees

But there is not a single word or sentence of that report that you are prepared to release into the public domain.

Given the consolidation of the college sector that we have seen over the past decade, it seems a little bit excessive, does it not, to have a regional college board that has oversight of just two colleges?

That is good. Thank you.

The deputy convener, Sharon Dowey, has some questions.

You mentioned earlier that auditors are not prone to hyperbole, but you think that it is absolutely right to highlight that spend in your report as a matter of public interest, if not public concern.

We are joined this morning by Graham Simpson, who has a number of questions that he wants to put to you, Mr Boyle.

If there are any live cases, I do not want to prejudice them by discussing them at this meeting of the Public Audit Committee.

Therefore, you looked at that yourself. Were you also satisfied that the director general had scrutinised and analysed that to the depth that was necessary to arrive at the conclusion that written authority was required?

That is fine. You will be aware of, and you have alluded to, the fact that Gregor Irwin, the director general economy, appeared before the committee a couple of weeks ago. During that evidence session, we spoke to him about access for the committee to the Teneo report and the information that led to the decision to request a written authority. At the time, he told us:

“What we are doing—and what we will work through with the Auditor General and his team—is seeing what we can do to share additional information. That process is on-going and is not yet complete, but we absolutely need to get it right, because we are committed to transparency.”

Two weeks later, we got a letter back from Mr Irwin saying no to that request. What happened between 1 June and 14 June?

Good morning. I welcome everyone to the 19th meeting in 2023 of the Public Audit Committee. We have apologies from Colin Beattie this morning; I welcome Bill Kidd who is substituting for him. I also welcome Graham Simpson, who is joining this morning’s meeting.

The first item on our agenda is for members of the committee to agree to take items 4, 5, 6,7 and 8 in private. Are we agreed?

Members indicated agreement.

The First Minister tells us in his document “Equality, opportunity, community: New leadership—A fresh start” that

“it is imperative that transparency underpins our approach to delivery. My government will ensure the people of Scotland have the information they need to hold us to account.”

How do you reconcile that statement of intent with what has happened with this issue?