Committee
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee 03 September 2024
03 Sep 2024 · S6 · Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Item of business
Subordinate Legislation
The Companies Act 2006 (Scottish public sector companies to be audited by the Auditor General for Scotland) Order 2024 [Draft]
I will make it as short as possible, convener. The committee will recall that, during the passage of the Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill, amendments were lodged by the Government to ensure that various pieces of legislation that would apply to Scotland’s other public bodies would also apply to Zero Waste Scotland. The transition follows a decision that was made by the Office for National Statistics for Zero Waste Scotland to be classified as a public sector organisation, as it is primarily directed and funded by Scottish ministers. Work is well under way to ensure an orderly transition, and—subject to how the committee votes today—we fully expect the change of status to take effect from 1 October. Zero Waste Scotland will be subject to the same provisions on public finance and accountability as other public bodies in Scotland, and it is important that the organisation has a designated accountable officer as part of routine good governance. 11:30 Zero Waste Scotland will not be part of the Scottish Administration under the Scotland Act 1998. That means that, for the purposes of the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000, the permanent secretary, as principal accounting officer, cannot appoint an accountable officer for Zero Waste Scotland. However, article 2 of the draft order requires that Zero Waste Scotland be audited by the Auditor General for Scotland, which consequently engages the relevant provision of part 2 of the 2000 act. Where a body’s accounts are subject to audit by the Auditor General, the permanent secretary will then be given power to designate an accountable officer for Zero Waste Scotland under section 15(3) of the 2000 act. I hope that that gives a summary of what we are doing; I will close there.
In the same item of business
The Convener
Con
Welcome back. Agenda item 5 is consideration of another draft statutory instrument. I welcome Gillian Martin, the Acting Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and E...
Gillian Martin
SNP
I will make it as short as possible, convener. The committee will recall that, during the passage of the Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill, amendments were l...
The Convener
Con
Thank you, cabinet secretary. Does anyone have any comments on what appears to be a good idea?
Mark Ruskell
Green
I have a brief comment, convener. I am really looking forward to Zero Waste Scotland growing into the role. It has been a long time coming, and I think that ...
The Convener
Con
Does anyone else have any comments?
Douglas Lumsden
Con
Can the cabinet secretary confirm whether the change will mean that Zero Waste Scotland is open to freedom of information requests at this point?
Gillian Martin
SNP
Yes.
Douglas Lumsden
Con
Okay—thank you.
The Convener
Con
As there are no other comments, we move to item 6, which is the debate on motion S6M-13501, which calls on the committee to recommend approval of the Compani...
The Convener
Con
The committee will report on the outcome of the instrument in due course. I invite the committee to delegate authority to me, as convener, to approve the dra...
The Convener
Con
Good. I thank the cabinet secretary and her officials. Some of you are staying with us for the next item—or are you all staying? No—I see that there will be...