Chamber and committees

Auditor General, do you have anything to say about that?

We will come on to the outstanding cases that are sitting with the commissioner’s office, but I will bring in Colin Beattie first.

Good morning, and welcome to the seventh meeting of the Public Audit Committee in 2023. The first item on our agenda is a decision on whether to take agenda items 4 and 5 in private. Do members agree to take those items in private?

Members indicated agreement.

The second item is a decision on whether to hold our next meeting, on Thursday 9 March, in private. Are we agreed?

Members indicated agreement.

The action plan on the 22 recommendations and the charting of progress in the wider audit report are very useful for us. That gives us a factual presentation of how well things are going and where there are issues. We will come on to some of the issues that are identified in the action plan and that we think are outstanding. I turn to the deputy convener, Sharon Dowey.

One of the issues that arose last year concerned the separation of the commissioner from the position of accountable officer. What is the current status on that?

Thank you.

My final question is about an issue that Pat Kenny mentioned earlier on. We were a bit concerned about the medium-term financial planning arrangements. We were told in the action plan report that action on that was outstanding. We were struck by the expression that, in the management’s view,

“this is considered a low priority”,

to which our response was, by whom? To us, medium-term financial planning seems pretty important in ensuring the sustainability of an organisation such as a commissioner’s office.

I want to cover a couple of areas before we close. One is in the table in exhibit 2 that tells us about the rates of complaints. I must say that one of the things that struck me was about the 1,227 elected councillors in Scotland. That number does not include board members, who can be added to that category. They are facing 146 complaints. However, the 129 MSPs are facing 760 complaints. Why is there that difference?

I am looking at recommendation 3.4 in the action plan.

Pat, you have shared your experience of dealing with commissioners’ offices over many years. Is it usual for there to be a split between the roles of commissioner and accountable officer?