Skip to main content
Loading…

Seòmar agus comataidhean

Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

Criathragan Hide all filters

Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 10 July 2025
Select which types of business to include


Select level of detail in results

Displaying 3298 contributions

|

Public Audit Committee

Section 22 Report: “The 2021/22 audit of Ferguson Marine Port Glasgow (Holdings) Limited”

Meeting date: 1 June 2023

Richard Leonard

Thank you very much. You mentioned written authority and the recent statement to Parliament. We will start with questions around that from the deputy convener, Sharon Dowey.

Public Audit Committee

Section 22 Report: “The 2021/22 audit of Ferguson Marine Port Glasgow (Holdings) Limited”

Meeting date: 1 June 2023

Richard Leonard

Again, under the Scottish public finance manual, you are obliged to speak up if you think that something is not value for money, which you did. Do you not think that you blurred the lines a little bit in your role as an impartial civil servant in the justification that appears in your letter to Neil Gray, which we have seen, around Government policy objectives and ministerial decisions? You stray into the policy territory. Why did you feel that it was necessary to do that?

Public Audit Committee

Section 22 Report: “The 2021/22 audit of Ferguson Marine Port Glasgow (Holdings) Limited”

Meeting date: 1 June 2023

Richard Leonard

Okay.

I will come back to Gregor Irwin. In your letter to me of 19 May, you say that the reason why you were not prepared to disclose any of the FMI report was that you needed to protect FMI’s methodologies and intellectual property. However, I presume that any consultant that is hired by the Government has a methodology and relies to a certain extent on intellectual property rights. Why on earth would any report by any consultant ever be published, if such are the criteria to be applied?

Public Audit Committee

Section 22 Report: “The 2021/22 audit of Ferguson Marine Port Glasgow (Holdings) Limited”

Meeting date: 1 June 2023

Richard Leonard

If the payment is for performance—

Public Audit Committee

Section 22 Report: “The 2021/22 audit of Ferguson Marine Port Glasgow (Holdings) Limited”

Meeting date: 1 June 2023

Richard Leonard

Hang on a minute, Mr Miller. This is not just an enterprise in which public money has been invested. It is owned by the Scottish Government. There is one shareholder, which is the Scottish Government—

Public Audit Committee

Section 22 Report: “The 2021/22 audit of Ferguson Marine Port Glasgow (Holdings) Limited”

Meeting date: 1 June 2023

Richard Leonard

—so, as the chair of the board of that organisation, do you not see there being any need for public accountability and public interest in the remuneration structure—not of the people who are building the ships but of the people at the top of the organisation?

Public Audit Committee

Section 22 Report: “The 2021/22 audit of Ferguson Marine Port Glasgow (Holdings) Limited”

Meeting date: 1 June 2023

Richard Leonard

Bill Kidd has some questions.

Public Audit Committee

Section 22 Report: “The 2021/22 audit of Ferguson Marine Port Glasgow (Holdings) Limited”

Meeting date: 1 June 2023

Richard Leonard

Does the First Marine International report contain any opinion on public ownership versus private ownership?

Public Audit Committee

Section 22 Report: “The 2021/22 audit of Ferguson Marine Port Glasgow (Holdings) Limited”

Meeting date: 1 June 2023

Richard Leonard

Thank you. On that positive note, I thank our witnesses for giving us their time and for their contributions. It has been very useful to us. I thank Colin Cook, Gregor Irwin, David Tydeman and Andrew Miller for joining us.

I now move the meeting into private session.

10:36 Meeting continued in private until 11:11.  

Public Audit Committee

Section 23 Report: “How the Scottish Government is set to deliver climate change goals”

Meeting date: 18 May 2023

Richard Leonard

Thank you very much. We now move to another area that has been highlighted in the report and which Willie Coffey has some questions on.