Chamber and committees

Euan, I ask you to introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your organisation.

Ryan, do you want to introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about the organisation that you are involved with?

Pippa, I invite you to introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about the organisation that you work for.

Thanks, Pippa. That is helpful. I will come back in a moment to a couple of the points that you made, but first I will bring in Ryan Smart before I ask Euan Ritchie to give his perspective from the regeneration forum.

As was mentioned earlier, Ryan, you were the lead person in one of the projects that was a case study in the report. What is your take on how things have been and on what you saw emerging?

We have just a few minutes left. One of our members—Willie Coffey—is joining us virtually this morning. I am keen to bring him in, as I know that he has some questions and reflections on this morning’s conversation. You will probably get the final word this morning, Willie.

Of course it is. I ask Ryan Smart to start.

Thank you, Auditor General.

If Pat Kenny or Graeme Greenhill wants to come in at any point, they should please type R in the chat function and I will bring them in. I am sure that the Auditor General will prompt them to come in as well.

Some fairly serious conclusions are reached in the report, which is hard hitting and, frankly, critical of the way in which the Crofting Commission is being run and governed. The report points to significant weaknesses in the commission’s leadership and governance arrangements, so I am bound to ask what the accounting officer in the Crofting Commission has been up to.

Thank you. We will explore the dynamics of the interaction between the Scottish Government, the sponsor division, the executive—including the accountable officer and the senior team—and the board. Auditor General, perhaps you can clarify my understanding: the board is a hybrid, with three members of the commission appointed by the Scottish Government and six being elected. Is that correct? I presume, therefore, that there are different lines of accountability even within the commission itself.

Thank you, Mr Kenny. Craig Hoy has some questions to develop that line of inquiry.

I will summarise what has been said so far. The report was published by Audit Scotland on 13 October. We are meeting on 4 November—22 days later—and the message that is coming from Mr Kenny is that all those issues have been addressed and rectified. Is that correct?