Chamber and committees

We are up against the clock a bit here, so, if it is a very brief question, I will allow you to come in and ask it.

That very much leads me to my next question, which is about where we are with the production of the Scottish Government’s whole-of-Government consolidated accounts, which I think you said rather diplomatically are being introduced at too slow a pace. Why has there been that lengthy delay, and what justification has been presented for it?

You refer in the report to the £60 million additional payout from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service as “unplanned costs”. Can you give us an idea of how £60 million compares with the annual budget of that public service?

Thank you very much for your evidence. It has been a really useful session for us. I appreciate the input from each of you. We will want to follow up on things that came out of the questioning and some things that we did not get to in the time allocated this morning.

Good morning. I welcome everybody to the second meeting in 2023 of the Public Audit Committee. The first item on our agenda is consideration of taking agenda items 3 and 4 in private. Do we agree to take those items in private?

Members indicated agreement.

Colin Beattie has some questions, but I know that he has to give a presentation to another committee. Do you want to ask your questions now, or do you want to leave it?

That is absolutely fine.

Auditor General, I turn to what seems to be a recurring section of these reports, which is the financial position of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. People will, no doubt, be aware of outstanding cases against the Lord Advocate in connection with the acquisition of Rangers Football Club. The report states that the cases that have been resolved total £35.5 million in costs up to March 2022,

“with a further £24.5 million provided in respect of cases still to be finalised.”

First, what does that mean for the overall financial position of the office? Secondly, can you update us on where those outstanding cases are? Are there further cases yet to be settled?

Okay. Finally, I just want to touch on the situation with GFG Alliance. I welcome your commitment this morning, Auditor General, that this is an area of continuing interest to you. In the financial year covered by this report, the supply chain banker to GFG Alliance, Greensill Capital, has gone into administration. As Michael Oliphant mentioned, the Serious Fraud Office is looking at GFG Alliance around concerns over fraud and money laundering. Quite unusually, GFG Alliance’s own auditors resigned. I think that its finance director left. Its corporate structure has been described by another parliamentary committee as “opaque”. I understand that the most recent accounts for the Lochaber smelter are not going to be audited. Do you have a view about the overall risk that we now seem to be facing here?

Thanks very much, Willie. We will turn to you again, because you have questions about the replacement for the European Union structural funds and how that will be audited and overseen.

Are you aware of any instances, since the framework was published in March, where the Government has decided against making an investment according to those criteria?