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Every contribution to the Official Report — chamber and committee — searchable in one place. Pulled from data.parliament.scot, indexed for full-text search, linked through to every MSP.

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Showing 60 of 2,354,908 contributions. Latest 30 days: 0. Coverage: 12 May 1999 — 25 Mar 2026.

Graham Simpson Con Committee

“NHS in Scotland: Spotlight on governance”

Okay. That would be useful. A letter was published yesterday by the public policy institute, Enlighten. It was written by 13 senior medical professionals and executives in Scotland. It was an open letter, published in the press and, I think, on Enlighten’s website. Top peopl...

Graham Simpson Con Chamber

Climate Emergency

I did not hear most of that, but the language was not helpful. Audit Scotland has said that the SNP’s “climate change governance arrangements” are missing “core elements”. It did a report on how well the Scottish Government is set up to deliver climate change goals and ...

Graham Simpson Reform Committee

“NHS in Scotland: Spotlight on governance”

I want to ask about “The Blueprint for Good Governance in NHS Scotland”. Paragraph 71 of the Auditor General’s report says: “While the Blueprint is a useful resource for driving improvement in governance, it is not clear if the self-assessment process is sufficient to identif...

Graham Simpson Con Chamber

Education Governance

That excessive uniformity is why the Scottish Conservatives have been arguing for years that we need greater diversity in the system and that we need properly to empower headteachers. On that point, it is good to see that the SNP has finally arrived at the table—it is talking ...

Graham Simpson Con Committee

Construction and Procurement of Ferry Vessels

I want to go back to issues that were raised in previous questions. Angus MacDonald asked about the tripartite arrangement. I am new to this inquiry, so I have looked at it with a fresh eye, and the governance of ferries seems completely bizarre to me. There are all kinds of o...

Graham Simpson Con Committee

Scottish Government Support and Sponsorship Arrangements (Key Audit Themes)

Thank you, Mr Johnston. That was a really useful opening statement. I found it quite encouraging to hear about some of the work that you have been doing. I will run through some of the reports that you mentioned—we have seen a number of them. There were reports on colleges i...

Graham Simpson Con Committee

Environmental Governance

I have read your response to the Scottish Government’s consultation on its “Report into the Effectiveness of Governance Arrangements”—that is a bit of a mouthful. You say that “Scotland has been found to be in breach of the Aarhus Convention in ten consecutive findings since ...

Graham Simpson Con Committee

“NHS in Scotland: Spotlight on governance”

How do you think the blueprint for good governance is going? How could it be improved?

Graham Simpson Reform Committee

Cairngorm Funicular Railway

Somebody else will ask about the future, so I will not trample on their toes. I will stick to governance. You have spoken about your concerns over the layered governance arrangements. There are programme boards, project boards, key performance indicators, assurance reports and...

Graham Simpson Reform Committee

Cairngorm Funicular Railway

Thank you very much, convener. I thank you all for coming today. You are aware that we visited the funicular, which was a good thing to do. We also met some local business people in Aviemore, so it was a very interesting and useful trip.You have given us a submission, and we a...

Graham Simpson (Central Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

Education Governance Review

The cabinet secretary wants councils to collect £100 million, which he will then divvy up, and he will form new national and regional bodies. How is that not more centralisation?

Graham Simpson Con Chamber

Local Democracy

Mr Wightman knows full well that the effect of that vote was to reduce local accountability. The Greens voted the other way. I prefer to judge parties by their actions, and the Greens have been found wanting. The two-year-old report contained some principles with which we wou...

Graham Simpson (Central Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

Education Governance

If there are to be no councillors on the new regional bodies, who will they be accountable to? Will it be to the cabinet secretary?

Graham Simpson (Central Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

Education Governance

I too, praise Tom Mason for his maiden speech. I also congratulate him for bucking a trend in the chamber and being well within time. I am sure that that will not catch on. Way back in March 2013, the commission on school reform published a detailed document “By diverse means...

Graham Simpson Con Chamber

Education Governance

I can clarify for Mr Swinney that we are saying that the creation of these new regional bodies amounts to greater centralisation, not autonomy. Headteachers will be answerable to regional bodies, not locally accountable elected members.

Graham Simpson Con Chamber

City Region Deals

Things have improved, but there have been issues. I will highlight a few more of them. Communities should be asked what they want for their area. If there are good ideas, a way should be found to incorporate them. There should be a better system for evaluating projects, and m...

Graham Simpson Con Chamber

Portfolio Question Time · “A Vision for Scotland’s Railways”

I thank the minister for that answer—of course, he did not actually answer the question, which was asking for his response to the report. I am not sure whether he has read it, but it was produced for Scotland’s four rail unions and is at least a vision for the future. We have ...

Graham Simpson (Central Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · South Lanarkshire College (Governance)

The Auditor General said today: “Independent audit was unable to conclude that governance at South Lanarkshire College” In East Kilbride “was satisfactory over the last year.” There have been serious issues at the college. Whistleblowers have made a number of allegations,...

Graham Simpson Con Chamber

Ferry Services (Public Ownership)

It sounds like Katy Clark wants business as usual on the ferries, apart from the ports, which, it would appear, she wants to nationalise. Scottish Labour needs to put a cost on that if that is what it is suggesting. Katy Clark’s motion says that “lifeline ferry services shou...

Graham Simpson (Central Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

Future of Scottish Ferries

I thank the minister for advance sight of her statement and the long-awaited project Neptune report. I first asked her to release the report on 24 February, and she said that she would. Had she released it then, I might have had time to digest it by now. It is quite a heavy re...

6. Graham Simpson (Central Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

General Question Time · Colleges (Governance)

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures good governance in Scotland’s colleges. (S6O-01737)

Graham Simpson Con Chamber

General Question Time · Colleges (Governance)

The minister will be aware of the situation at South Lanarkshire College, where the highly respected principal, who had been looking into serious allegations of theft and malfeasance, has been suspended on full pay for 13 months. That is not due process in anyone’s book. The c...

Graham Simpson Con Chamber

Portfolio Question Time · South Lanarkshire College (Dismissal of Principal)

In fact, the college board did not follow the college’s disciplinary procedures, which I have here. The principal, Aileen McKechnie, could not ask questions, call witnesses or challenge evidence and was not even shown any of the evidence against her. The outcome was a foregone...

Graham Simpson (Central Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Service

I thank the minister for advance sight of her statement. Islanders who were hoping for some clarity on how ferries will be run, by whom and for how long, will be bewildered by what has just been said. Scotland’s ferry system is not working, our ageing ferries are unreliable, ...

Graham Simpson Con Committee

Section 22 Report: “The 2022/23 audit of NHS Forth Valley”

Yes, it is plain to see. I want to ask you about something that is very concerning, which is covered on page 10 of the report, in the timeline. It says: “HIS’s inspectors identified instances of unsafe practice around medicines governance which could result in serious harm t...

Graham Simpson (Central Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

I, too, congratulate Ben Macpherson on bringing the debate to the chamber, and thank him for doing so. It is long overdue, and the very fact that we are having this debate has sparked a debate. Unfortunately, I am already seeing entrenched positions between what I would descri...

Graham Simpson Con Committee

Environmental Governance

Before I get into those, Dr Dixon, I note that, at the start of your remarks, you mentioned that you had an issue with councils reporting on wider emissions, which you said fell under scope 3. Will you explain that a bit more?

Graham Simpson Con Committee

Environmental Governance

So, is the issue how widely you draw that boundary?

Graham Simpson Con Committee

Environmental Governance

Have you spoken to the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities about it?

Graham Simpson Con Committee

Environmental Governance

I read the letter that Jim Martin sent just a few days ago, in which he said that since you “began operating on 1 October 2021”, you “have received a total of 45 representations”. That does not sound like an awful lot to me. Would you accept that that is not many represent...

Graham Simpson Con Committee

Environmental Governance

That seems pretty restrictive and frustrating.

Graham Simpson Con Committee

Environmental Governance

Before you do so, Mark, I just want to make an observation—and it is not a criticism, just an observation. I do not know whether 45 is a good number, but, if not, it might just be because you are new and people do not know about you. Perhaps a challenge there is for you to get...

Graham Simpson Con Committee

Environmental Governance

Of course, members of the public might not know the difference between Environmental Standards Scotland and SEPA, or understand which organisation does what.

Graham Simpson Con Committee

Environmental Governance

There are lots of questions to get through today, but I would like to ask one more before I finish. Are you seeing any early trends in the kind of issues that are coming up?

Graham Simpson Con Committee

Environmental Governance

I have other questions, deputy convener, but I know that other members want to come in.

Graham Simpson Con Committee

Environmental Governance

I have some further questions.

Graham Simpson Con Committee

Environmental Governance

No—they are on different areas.

Graham Simpson Con Committee

Environmental Governance

I will stop you there. From a Government point of view, there are no consequences other than a slap on the wrist from a committee, and it is too expensive for ordinary individuals to go to court. Why not leave things as they are? That seems to be the Government’s stance.

Graham Simpson Con Committee

Environmental Governance

It raised my eyebrows when you said earlier that the Scottish Government’s response was cobbled together using Wikipedia.

Graham Simpson Con Committee

Environmental Governance

It is really concerning if the Government has gone to Wikipedia and copied and pasted diagrams or text.

Graham Simpson Con Committee

Environmental Governance

I have just one more. Do you consider that the Scottish Government has taken such a position because it would rather like there to be as little comeback as possible?

Graham Simpson Con Committee

Climate Change and Environmental Governance

It is still morning, so good morning, cabinet secretary. Just to get it clear in my head, I go back to the very start, where we were talking about the climate change bill and the climate change plan. Currently, legally, you have to produce a climate change plan by November, bu...

Graham Simpson Con Committee

Climate Change and Environmental Governance

The timescale is that the bill would have to be done and dusted by November?

Graham Simpson Con Committee

Climate Change and Environmental Governance

That is useful. The Scottish Government still likes to keep pace with European regulations, so I wanted to ask about one that I have been following for a while now, which is regulation EU 2023/1804 on the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure. I am not expecting you ...

Graham Simpson Con Committee

Climate Change and Environmental Governance

It is a regulation.

Graham Simpson Con Committee

Climate Change and Environmental Governance

It is a transport issue, but it is also an energy one—it involves the kind of energy that we use. I would like to see this provision apply across the UK, because if we are going to encourage people to use electric vehicles, we need more EV charging stations, which this regulat...

Graham Simpson Con Committee

Climate Change and Environmental Governance

Perhaps you could write to the committee on the detail of the regulation. I will leave it there, convener.

Graham Simpson Con Committee

Auditor General for Scotland (Work Programme)

Just one more, actually. It relates to your planned audit on best value in policing, Auditor General, which you are going to do in conjunction with His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland. Our predecessor committee, in its legacy report, said: “The Committee is...

Graham Simpson (Central Scotland) (Con) Con Committee

“NHS in Scotland: Spotlight on governance”

Thanks, chair. Have you finished your questions, chair?

Graham Simpson Con Committee

“NHS in Scotland: Spotlight on governance”

Right, because I was going to follow on from your line of questioning—

Graham Simpson Con Committee

“NHS in Scotland: Spotlight on governance”

Let us see how well I do on the issue of boards and board chairs. There was mention of Forth Valley. NHS Forth Valley’s current interim chair is Neena Mahal, who was the chair of NHS Lanarkshire. Is there an issue there? There is clearly a problem recruiting new chairs. Alison...

Graham Simpson Con Committee

“NHS in Scotland: Spotlight on governance”

You mentioned self-assessment and talked about people marking their own homework, which is what self-assessment can be. Your report highlights variation in how boards carry that out. Why is there variation? Should there be greater consistency?

Graham Simpson Con Committee

“NHS in Scotland: Spotlight on governance”

Are all the boards using the blueprint? When you suggest external validation of blueprint self-assessments, who are you thinking of to carry that out?

Graham Simpson Con Committee

“NHS in Scotland: Spotlight on governance”

Who should carry out the external validation?

Graham Simpson Con Committee

“NHS in Scotland: Spotlight on governance”

That makes the point. You have five boards that have marked themselves down, and maybe they deserve to be marked down—I do not know—but having someone external to make sure that they are not being too hard on themselves would be useful. I will leave it there, convener, thank you.

Graham Simpson (Central Scotland) (Reform) Reform Committee

“NHS in Scotland: Spotlight on governance”

You said earlier that you have oversight of more than 100 bodies and 800 roles.

Graham Simpson Reform Committee

“NHS in Scotland: Spotlight on governance”

Do you look at the shortlist for every one of those roles? 09:45

Graham Simpson Reform Committee

“NHS in Scotland: Spotlight on governance”

So you look at the shortlist for every health board chair.

Graham Simpson Reform Committee

“NHS in Scotland: Spotlight on governance”

Do you have the power to step in and halt a process?

Graham Simpson Reform Committee

“NHS in Scotland: Spotlight on governance”

Have you ever done that?

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Committee

Public Audit Committee 11 June 2025

11 Jun 2025 · S6 · Public Audit Committee

Item of business

“NHS in Scotland: Spotlight on governance”

Simpson, Graham Con Central Scotland Watch on SPTV

Okay. That would be useful.

A letter was published yesterday by the public policy institute, Enlighten. It was written by 13 senior medical professionals and executives in Scotland. It was an open letter, published in the press and, I think, on Enlighten’s website. Top people have signed up to it. It says:

“We recognise that many people are well served by the NHS in Scotland, and that thousands of dedicated and hard-working people ensure that compassionate and effective, sometimes lifesaving, care is provided on a day-to-day basis. And yet, as has also been acknowledged, the current system of delivering health care and social care in Scotland is unsustainable, often stretched beyond capacity, overly complicated, difficult to navigate, often inefficient and is perceived as not always meeting the needs of people living in Scotland.”

There is a lot more to the letter, but it says—and this is where it relates to your report—that the NHS is “overly complicated”. The letter is potentially touching on governance, which is what your report is about. Could you explain why you think that governance is so important and why changing the governance and simplifying it will make a difference to the people who use the NHS in Scotland?

In the same item of business

The Convener Lab

Agenda item 2 is consideration of the Auditor General’s report “NHS in Scotland: Spotlight on governance”, which was published late last month. I am very ple...

Stephen Boyle (Auditor General for Scotland)

Many thanks, convener. Good morning. As you mentioned, I am bringing you my report on governance of the national health service in Scotland. The report cover...

The Convener Lab

Thank you very much for that introduction. Key message 2 in the report describes “weaknesses within the scrutiny and assurance processes at the Scottish Go...

Stephen Boyle

I am very happy to do that. I will start and then bring in Alison Cumming to say a bit more. I will signpost a couple of relevant parts of the report. In ex...

Alison Cumming (Audit Scotland)

We would characterise the risk as relating primarily to scrutiny and assurance. As the Auditor General said, the director general has the dual role of holdin...

The Convener Lab

Do you take a view on whether it would be better for those two roles to be decoupled?

Stephen Boyle

Not directly. We are clear that the decision on how Scottish ministers wish to structure the responsibilities is, ultimately, for them, but we go as far as s...

The Convener Lab

This is the biggest spending department of the Scottish Government, is it not?

Stephen Boyle

The Convener Lab

Can you think of any other Scottish Government departments in which the strategic leadership role and the operational role are similarly combined?

Stephen Boyle

Not off the top of my head. Alison Cumming might have a more up-to-date impression than I do, but I think that we are talking about a particularly unusual se...

Alison Cumming

There is no direct comparator. The recent Scottish Fiscal Commission “Fiscal Sustainability Report” said that about 40 per cent of the Scottish budget is spe...

Stephen Boyle

I should say that, although the director general for health and social care is the portfolio accountable officer, clear and well-defined governance arrangeme...

The Convener Lab

Okay. I am sure that we will return to the issues during the course of this morning’s evidence session. I now invite Stuart McMillan to put some questions to...

Stuart McMillan (Greenock and Inverclyde) (SNP) SNP

I thought that the report was very helpful, and I will touch on the point about governance. Exhibit 1 on page 10 is very helpful in setting the wider scene...

Stephen Boyle

I will bring in Bernie Milligan to say more about the specifics of how the system is likely to operate, but you will probably hear in my initial response tha...

Bernie Milligan (Audit Scotland)

Planning is becoming more complex. It was only in November 2024 that the Scottish Government announced a renewed approach and increased focus on population-b...

Stuart McMillan SNP

With regard to the collaboration, you indicated that there is already a statutory requirement. Have you been confident that the governance arrangements for c...

Stephen Boyle

I am happy to start and then Bernie Milligan might come back in. We will probably see a mixed picture. The report touches on and refers to some of the prev...

Stuart McMillan SNP

When I read the report, it struck me that the health is a very complex policy area and that governance arrangements will always be challenging, whether it is...

Stephen Boyle

That is the challenge to be addressed. As we say in the report, governance is complicated. The complexity of the planning arrangements and the fact that ac...

Stuart McMillan SNP

You touched a few moments ago on the integration joint boards. In your view, what more can be done to ensure that there is clearer accountability and better ...

Stephen Boyle

I will bring in Alison Cumming on some of the integration joint board activity. As mentioned, this is not entirely a question of structural issues. Indeed,...

Alison Cumming

The key point is how the governance relationships and structures are set out on paper and what we see in practice. That tends to be where we see the variatio...

Stuart McMillan SNP

Thank you. The new NHS Scotland executive group could play an important role. I am keen to get an understanding of your assessment of whether that group wi...

Stephen Boyle

I am very happy to start on that. I will bring Alison Cummings in, as she has looked at that closely. There is no shortage of senior leaders on the NHS Scot...

Alison Cumming

To give the committee a taster of the NHS overview that is coming later in the year, we will look specifically at the operation of the group. It has met five...

Stuart McMillan SNP

There were two comments that you put on the record, Auditor General. You said that “there is no shortage of senior leaders” on the group, and that the group ...

Stephen Boyle

There are many examples. Alison Cumming and Bernie Milligan might want to come in with some specifics on where planned care is being delivered regionally. Th...

Bernie Milligan

I have no specific examples. That collaboration is already taking place across boards. Service level agreements are in place, with people going from one boar...