Chamber and committees

Judging from the reaction around the table, it probably would be of interest.

I will finish with a fairly easy question. Is the Government on track to meet its legally binding net zero targets by 2045, which would be five years ahead of the rest of the UK?

Okay. Thank you. I will move things along. Sorry—Graham Simpson wants to come in.

Thank you very much. We are a little bit pushed for time this morning, so I will move straight to questions. I invite Graham Simpson to open up.

One of the recurring questions is: why did the Government step in to buy Prestwick airport but not step in to save the Glasgow Caledonian railway works in Springburn? It owns Prestwick airport, and there has been speculation in the past week or so that other Scottish airports will be put up for sale by their present owners. Is there any consideration, under the Scottish Government’s business investment framework, of whether it will step in?

To what extent is the strategic commercial assets division concerned just about managing the here and now and the enterprises that are currently owned by the Scottish Government? To what extent is it looking across the whole Scottish economy and saying, “Well, that enterprise is strategically important, but it is in trouble—maybe we should consider stepping in and taking over ownership of it”? What is your sense of how that works in the new landscape, with, as you described it, the new infrastructure that has been created to look at those issues?

Okay—that is fine.

I turn now to the deputy convener, Sharon Dowey, who has some questions for you.

Thank you. We have a couple more areas of questioning for you, Auditor General. For the first of those, I will hand over to Willie Coffey. It is about shared services and the experience of that so far in relation to capital expenditure and revenue possibilities.

We have just a couple of final areas to cover. The first is governance arrangements. You say in paragraph 70 of this year’s report:

“I reported last year that many of the main governance groups are attended by the same individuals (both executive and non-executive) and cover similar topics, themes and risks. This increases the risk of duplication, inefficiency, or blurred lines of responsibility between the different roles and remits of each group.”

What progress has been made since you drew that picture last year?

Fine. Thanks for clarifying that. Graham, do you want to come in on this area, or will I go to Willie Rennie to talk about shared services?

What you are saying, if I understand it, is that, notwithstanding the pilots, you still think that there needs to be a more comprehensive review. Have you had a response from the Government to that call?

I want to check something with you. We previously referred to SIMEC Lochaber Hydropower Ltd as SIMEC Energy. I do not know whether SIMEC Lochaber Hydropower Ltd is another incarnation of it, or whether that is the correct name that it has always had. It has not submitted audited accounts. Has the Liberty Group submitted audited accounts? Has the GFG Alliance submitted audited accounts?