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Good morning, panel. I want to ask a couple of questions on progress with the technical assurance framework.

The witnesses are bound to recall the factors and key reasons for ICT projects failing in the past: project planning, the lack of application of quality-management processes and skills identification. Indeed, skills problems and the skills mix have always been problems. The committee felt that there were a number of issues that, over the years, have led to projects running over time and over budget. The i6 project, for example, was particularly bad in that respect. We saw how things tended to be rushed from the start, how projects were poorly defined and how too many changes were made along the way, all of which led to overruns. As I recall, the i6 project itself was abandoned altogether.

I wonder whether Geoff Huggins and Donny McGillivray can give us an overview of where we are now with all those issues. Have we captured the problems? Are the processes that we embraced and the various other frameworks in place and working towards successful delivery?

You also note that the Government has not been particularly clear on the level of spending that is being targeted at early intervention and prevention. Can you say a few words about that? What should the Government be doing to clarify or improve that aspect?

That is a really important point. I know from local experience that, during Covid in particular, when people were coming out of the criminal justice system, they were finding it difficult to access support services. If we can do anything to reinstate and recover that aspect of the service, that would contribute, at least in part, to turning things around.

My last question is about the governance aspect. Your report reminds us that

“The Scottish Government and COSLA agreed eight recommendations to improve the governance and accountability”

of various services, leading to the development of the partnership delivery framework for alcohol and drug partnerships. Could you say a wee bit more about how that has been progressing, please?

Thank you, convener. I hope that the videolink will survive the next five minutes or so.

Auditor General, I have a couple of questions on early intervention and prevention, and I will perhaps ask one on governance arrangements.

Over the years, I have worked with a number of drug and alcohol projects in my constituency. If the people there had one key ask, it was to have a flexible and quickly accessible service that they could call on to get help when they needed it. There has been good progress in reporting on this matter, certainly in my constituency. Do you recognise that as an issue that has popped up in your discussions and analysis? How does it fit in with the work that the Scottish Government is trying to do on early intervention? It seems to me to be a huge issue for the people in Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley. It is leading to more suicides than we would like to have, obviously. It is a serious issue. It has been raised with me several times that direct and fast access to help and support services is crucial.

I want to ask Rosemary Agnew about digital engagement. Is it still the case that people are supposed to contact the ombudsman in writing? I noticed in your report that, last year, I think, 67 per cent of complaints came in via your website form. Can you clarify the position? I know that the Local Government and Communities Committee in the previous session discussed whether complaints could be accepted online. Could you clarify the position for me?

Absolutely. We have found that, in a number of areas, digital engagement in many ways saved the day. It is good to hear that route to using the ombudsman service is opening up much more. Has that led to use of the service by groups of people that perhaps might not have done so before? We spoke about younger people earlier, but are there other groups of people you might expect to engage with the ombudsmen service that hitherto did not, and are you finding that they are doing so much more now because it is much easier to raise issues with you digitally?

Good morning. Can you say a little bit about how you engage with younger people? The information that we have suggests to us that few young people make complaints to the ombudsman. Is that the case? How would you make your complaints service more accessible to younger people, in particular?

Has the £70 million been factored into your financial planning? Has it been agreed with anyone? Where is the money to address the maintenance backlog coming from?

You are bound to need some kind of allocation to assist you with the maintenance backlog. We cannot wait year after year for that. There surely has to be some kind of annual recognition of that and an allocation of funding to support the good work that you described. However, it is not clear to me that the money that you said you need for the work that you intend to do will be forthcoming next year and the year after.

What was its explanation to you for its not granting the extension?