Meeting of the Parliament 10 March 2016
We have that. As I have said, a major issue is who does the forecasting. Jackie Baillie’s amendment was on a peripheral issue. I find it hard to get excited about it and I do not believe that Jackie Baillie is excited about it. She is just making a mountain out of a molehill.
We all agree that the independence of the Scottish Fiscal Commission is essential. That independence comes about partly by its having appropriate structures, but I remain convinced that other essential elements are the integrity and independence of the individuals involved. In that regard, forecasting and independence are two distinct concepts, and whether the Fiscal Commission does the forecasting does not affect its independence. We have the good example of Audit Scotland, which checks other people’s work and comments on it. It is hugely respected. I found amendment 7 strange in that regard, although I voted for it. It talks about the commission preparing reports
“containing an assessment of the accuracy of the forecasts prepared by it”.
We have been forced into a slightly odd position in which the commission will have to comment on its own forecasts.