Chamber and committees

As the Auditor General, do you have a view on that?

As I understand it, and based on the correspondence that we have received from the chief financial officer, it seems to stop short of being a total whole-of-Government account. Is it your understanding that that remains the Government’s ambition, or is it saying that it is not worth its while doing that, as it would not get the return on the effort that would be required? I am not quite sure where we are with that.

I am sorry to push you on that, but I would like to understand a bit more. As I understand it, 63 per cent—almost two thirds—of Social Security Scotland benefits are administered by the Department for Work and Pensions. Are you saying, Carole, that Social Security Scotland does not have proper oversight of fraud and error in that system?

My second question relates to that point. It is projected that Social Security Scotland will be administering those benefits by the end of 2025-26. Are you saying, however, that a legislative gap exists, which means that it cannot currently scrutinise error and fraud?

One of the capital underspends is in transport, net zero and just transition. The capital underspend there is £60 million, which is equivalent to 10 per cent of the capital budget for that department. Do you know why there is such a significant underspend in particular Government departments?

A “reprofiling” sounds to me like a delay. We understand that there has been construction inflation for a number of years, but I am not quite sure that that is a plausible reason why spending on infrastructure such as ports or the small vessels programme has been delayed, especially given the pressures on the ferry fleet.

The Scottish Government’s consolidated accounts are a key component of the Scottish Government’s accountability to the Parliament and to the people. The committee may well consider inviting the Scottish Government’s chief accountable officer to give evidence, at some point in the future, on the consolidated accounts.

I will move on to another area that was highlighted in the report, about Social Security Scotland. As the Public Audit Committee, one of the questions for us, as a matter of interest, is to ask what action Social Security Scotland is taking to assess fraud and error in the system.

That is great. Thank you very much. I will bring in James Dornan, who has some questions for you. James is joining us online.

Item 2 is a decision on whether to take in private our next meeting, which is on Thursday 14 November. Are we agreed?

Members indicated agreement.

I will begin by turning to one of the points that you raised in opening, about the level of underspend. Do you consider the underspend that is reported in the consolidated accounts to be reasonable?

Thank you—we get the message.

I invite the deputy convener to put some questions.