Chamber and committees

The variances do not just cover underspends but overspends as well. Things such as IT costs are significantly more than what was budgeted for. Again, Mr Dennis, I suspect that we will get into the murky world of accommodation and international accounting standards, but other accommodation costs—I am not entirely sure what that line covers—were 40 per cent above budget as well. From the point of view of challenge and scrutiny in this public forum, could you explain why there were substantial overspends in those areas?

Can I just probe that a little bit more? My reading is that the good compliance record was much higher the year before—the percentage was in the 80s. Is that evidence of things going in the right direction, or is it evidence of things going in the wrong direction?

The report says that there are examples of insufficient “challenge of management”. That has not affected the outcome of the assurance around the audit; it is just a methodology thing. Is that what is being said there?

Okay, and what about the other accommodation costs?

It feels a little bit like you might be manipulating the figures, Mr Smith.

You have a separate measure of audit quality, which involves your appointment of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales to carry out performance reviews on a sample of—in this case—eight audits. If I interpret the findings correctly, the ICAEW said that only four of the eight audits of which it carried out a performance review met the standard that was expected. Is that your reading of the findings? If so, what conclusions do you draw from that?

Thank you very much.

I am not asking about year-by-year changes relating to the national fraud initiative, because those costs in your budget are entirely predictable. I am asking why you asked for a budget of a certain amount for legal and professional fees, for example, when you spent substantially less than that in that year. The issue is, in part, about transparency, but it is also about credibility when you come to us to ask for a budget this year.

Good morning, everybody. On that last point, we have heard figures from 40 per cent up to 48 per cent or 49 per cent. What is your target? What kind of completion rates of audits were there before the pandemic, for example? You mentioned that some of this is about catching up, as the work was knocked off its path because of the pandemic and the very difficult circumstances that everybody was in at that point. What are your targets? What would you expect?

The downgrading of neonatal services at University hospital Wishaw means that people there are being told that they might have to travel to Aberdeen. How do you reconcile that with that goal?