Hansard

11:30

The Convener Lab

Our principal agenda item is consideration of the section 22 report, “The 2024/25 audit of the Scottish Public Pensions Agency”. From the SPPA, I welcome Dr ...

Dr Stephen Pathirana (Scottish Public Pensions Agency)

Thank you, convener. Good morning, and thank you for the opportunity to engage with the committee on the SPPA’s progress to deliver the McCloud remedy, follo...

The Convener Lab

I will begin where you finished. For our benefit, what is the relationship between you and the Scottish Government—the director general corporate? Our unders...

Dr Pathirana

You are absolutely correct: we are an executive agency. In that context, a governance framework document sets out our terms of governance. It has been signed...

The Convener Lab

Lesley Fraser, I do not know whether you can help to clarify the relationship.

Lesley Fraser (Scottish Government)

I act as a co-ordinator and overseer of the work of the agency, to ensure that it delivers against its strategic objectives, that we are confident in its gov...

The Convener Lab

Okay, thank you. While you are on the microphone, director general, does the Scottish Government accept the findings, recommendations and conclusions in the ...

Lesley Fraser

Yes. I, too, am delighted that the agency has an unqualified opinion from Audit Scotland. That is hugely important. I accept in full, or very close to in ful...

The Convener Lab

I am sure that the Auditor General understands that. Nonetheless, he thought it right to lay before the Parliament a section 22 report, because, as he descri...

Lesley Fraser

It is absolutely right to scrutinise that, and it is hugely important that the Auditor General undertakes his proper role and that there is proper scrutiny i...

The Convener Lab

Okay, but we take advice from the Auditor General, and he has laid before us, as members of the Parliament, a section 22 report—bear in mind that it was publ...

Lesley Fraser

I have discussed that with Stephen Pathirana and the team at the SPPA, as has the Minister for Public Finance. I have also looked in detail at the management...

The Convener Lab

Dr Pathirana, how do you respond to paragraph 23 of the Auditor General’s report, which I just read to Lesley Fraser?

Dr Pathirana

It is absolutely right for the Auditor General to ask those questions and raise those concerns. Although the report was published only recently, the data tha...

The Convener Lab

Lesley Fraser alluded to the fact that her understanding is that your progress is broadly in line with that of agencies in England and Wales. However, the Au...

Dr Pathirana

The Auditor General is reflecting exactly what I said to the FPA Committee last year. As I said in my opening statement, pensions providers up and down the c...

The Convener Lab

You have mentioned the Finance and Public Administration Committee a couple of times. You had some correspondence with the convener of that committee, Kenny ...

Dr Pathirana

What I mean is giving people the choice. The goal of the McCloud remedy is to ensure that people have a choice between their career average revalued earnings...

The Convener Lab

If I put my feet in the boots of a retired firefighter, I would find that zero per cent of them have been issued with remediable service statements.

Dr Pathirana

The figure was zero per cent when the Audit Scotland report was done, but, as of yesterday, we had issued 37 per cent of firefighter RSSs. Again, we are maki...

The Convener Lab

My final question is on your 17 February 2026 letter to Kenneth Gibson, convener of the Finance and Public Administration Committee. The annex to the letter ...

Dr Pathirana

One of the challenges in trying to answer the FPA Committee convener’s question has been getting reliable and publicly available data. We have managed to get...

The Convener Lab

We might get to that, but, in the interest of moving things along, I invite Graham Simpson to put some questions to you.

Graham Simpson (Central Scotland) (Reform) Reform

Lesley Fraser, at the start of the meeting, the convener asked whether you accepted in full the recommendations of the report. You said that you accepted the...

Lesley Fraser

It is particularly in relation to the challenge of being transparent and communicating clearly with members affected by the McCloud remedy. The Auditor Gener...

Graham Simpson Reform

Is there an element of the Auditor General’s report that you are not comfortable with?

Lesley Fraser

It is that aspect in particular. There are particular difficulties and challenges with being able to be as clear and transparent with members who are affecte...

Graham Simpson Reform

Dr Pathirana, in your letter to Mr Gibson of 17 February, you said:“I understand Audit Scotland’s position is that while it is recognised this is a UK-wide i...

Dr Pathirana

It is not that he has missed something; it is more that it would have been helpful to know that wider context. The Auditor General is rightly saying, “Here i...