Hansard

I will be staying for the entire debate.

It has been an enormous pleasure to serve on the Parliament’s Public Audit Committee for the entire parliamentary session. Contrary to popular belief, the committee is one of the most interesting and challenging committees in the Parliament. It covers every area of the public sector in Scotland and offers members a real opportunity to learn how Scotland works. One minute we might be looking at the cost of hip replacements in the NHS; the next we might be skiing down the slopes of the Cairngorms, clutching the audited accounts as we go. The diversity of the committee’s agenda was as fascinating as it was challenging. I recall spending many a late night poring over some new aspect of the public services and trying to give of my best to hold it to account.

A mention of audit is usually the signal for our colleagues to announce that they have something else to attend to and scurry off to the garden lobby. Little do they know that they are missing a great opportunity to get their teeth into just about every corner of the public sector. Our members know the value of the experience and jealously guard the committee’s reputation.

Audit, of course, is about looking at systems and processes, taking a snapshot in time, reporting what is observed and recommending actions for improvement. It is not about blaming and finger pointing—although the temptation to do that when politicians are in the frame is sometimes overwhelming. In the main, Audit Scotland’s reports have painted a picture of excellent service delivery in Scotland, which we should recognise.

Guiding the committee on its merry way are, of course, Audit Scotland, led by Robert Black, the Auditor General for Scotland, who is in the public gallery, and our hard-working team of clerks. Audit Scotland’s reports are superb. They provide us with a framework that allows us to examine various services in minute detail. The quality of reporting and the advice that is given are of great benefit to the committee and ultimately to the Government in planning future services—the advice must surely be the best that any Government could wish for. Our wonderful clerks hang it all together. Their diligence and skill in interpreting members’ views have been a great help to everyone who has served on the committee.

During the past four years we have been on quite a journey together. We have looked at a wide variety of areas in Scottish public life: police call management; local authority audits; numerous NHS services—one or two members mentioned our visit to the Western Isles; major capital projects; prisons; the Commonwealth games; public finances; the Cairngorm funicular; civil contingency planning; the national fraud initiative; VisitScotland; the gathering; and the ScotRail franchise.

I am sure that members recall the visit to our committee in December 2009 by members of the Northern Ireland Assembly, including members from Sinn Féin, the Social Democratic and Labour Party, the Democratic Unionist Party, the Ulster Unionist Party and the Progressive Unionist Party, who all worked together with us, here in Scotland. That was a wonderful day.

For me, one of the most important messages to come out of Audit Scotland’s reports is the clear need for our public service providers to adopt recognised management systems, to invest time and energy in the planning and cost estimation phases for capital works in particular, and to learn lessons by doing thorough post-project evaluations to assist them with future service design. That was a recurring message throughout the past four years, and I am hopeful that our public service providers will fully embrace that wise advice from Audit Scotland and our committee.

Our meetings were not without their lighter moments. I recall that the committee flew into Stornoway one day in an aeroplane that sounded and looked more like an oven on wings. We had great hospitality, and I recall one of our members, Stuart McMillan, rushing off after the meeting to get his order of Stornoway black pudding before he left. We heard the business plan for the Cairngorms ski facility that might have ended up not involving any skiing at all. That was a bit concerning. We also heard some classic “Yes, Minister”-type responses from some of our civil servants, who are occasionally masters of the evasive, but in a very polite way. We were told about some unfortunate people in hospital who were forced to remain there for weeks on end because there were no buses to get them home. We eventually ran out of adjectives and were right sair astonished on many occasions. We have been astonished this morning as well.

My personal favourite must surely be the much-loved Queen’s and Lord Treasurer’s Remembrancer, which I am sure I do not have to remind members had no accountable officer for months on end and did not produce any accounts for two years. However, nobody noticed until Audit Scotland came along. I recall fondly the comments of Mr Phil Grigor of Audit Scotland, who announced to a stunned committee that it was

“A treasure trove”

worth £5 million and that

“anything that comes out of the ground that is of value ... is passed to the state ... Anything that belongs to no one becomes the King’s—or the Queen’s, in this state—is the remembrancer’s mantra.”—[Official Report, Public Audit Committee, 17 June 2009; c 1175.]

It was the only time that I saw the convener stumped for words. It was a classic moment in the life of the Public Audit Committee. Who said that audit cannot be fun?

The Scottish Parliament’s Public Audit Committee, aided and abetted by Audit Scotland, delivers a hugely important service to the people of Scotland. The system that we have is respected throughout Europe and should be cherished.

In line with its own preaching, the system should also look at ways of improving. A thought from me is that the committee, Audit Scotland or some other body could take on the role of checking up on whether Scotland’s public services have paid heed to the recommendations that we have made over the course of our work.

I commend the committee’s report to the Parliament.

10:58