Chamber and committees

We might prefer the former rather than the latter, but anyway.

Are you talking specifically about the situation in England? Audit Scotland’s representative told us that it is a much tighter contract there; it only involves transporting people backwards and forwards to court and is not about taking people to family funerals or NHS appointments.

Will that be part of the consideration of your thematic review of prisoner transport?

Willie Coffey has a question in that area.

The committee might invite the accountable officer from the Government to explain why the group has not been convened.

Good morning. I welcome everyone to the eighth meeting in 2024 of the Public Audit Committee.

The first item of business on our agenda was to consider our work programme in private, which we have now successfully done.

Agenda item 2 is a decision whether to take agenda items 4 and 5 in private. Does the committee agree to do so?

Members indicated agreement.

I hope that you are not going to test me, director general.

Members of the committee will probe those issues in a bit more detail.

During the evidence session that we had with the Auditor General in November, he welcomed the single Scottish estate approach as a useful first step, but it was pretty clear from what he told us that he felt that it fell short of what was really required. In other words, operational buildings are not part of that approach, or certainly were not at the point at which he was putting together his briefing. Do you have any reflections on that? His view, which the committee shares, is that it is important that consideration is given to how the whole estate can be properly used and maximised.

In recent weeks, we have taken evidence about the fact that parts of our infrastructure—whether in our prisons or the health service—are reaching the end of their lives; in many cases, they have gone beyond the end of their expected lives. How are you approaching the development of a single Scottish estate approach that also takes into account the operational buildings?

Can I pick you up on the point about different governance arrangements? Are you saying that they are an impediment and that they prevent you from doing that, or are you saying something different?

We will have more questions about the estates and so on shortly, but I now turn to Colin Beattie, who has some points to put to you.