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Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

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

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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 9 July 2025
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Displaying 3298 contributions

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Public Audit Committee

Section 22 Report: “The 2020/21 audit of the Crofting Commission”

Meeting date: 4 November 2021

Richard Leonard

Thank you. We will explore the dynamics of the interaction between the Scottish Government, the sponsor division, the executive—including the accountable officer and the senior team—and the board. Auditor General, perhaps you can clarify my understanding: the board is a hybrid, with three members of the commission appointed by the Scottish Government and six being elected. Is that correct? I presume, therefore, that there are different lines of accountability even within the commission itself.

Public Audit Committee

Section 22 Report: “The 2020/21 audit of the Crofting Commission”

Meeting date: 4 November 2021

Richard Leonard

Thank you, Mr Kenny. Craig Hoy has some questions to develop that line of inquiry.

Public Audit Committee

Section 22 Report: “The 2020/21 audit of the Crofting Commission”

Meeting date: 4 November 2021

Richard Leonard

I will summarise what has been said so far. The report was published by Audit Scotland on 13 October. We are meeting on 4 November—22 days later—and the message that is coming from Mr Kenny is that all those issues have been addressed and rectified. Is that correct?

Public Audit Committee

Section 22 Report: “The 2020/21 audit of the Crofting Commission”

Meeting date: 4 November 2021

Richard Leonard

Willie, do you have any further questions?

Public Audit Committee

Section 22 Report: “The 2020/21 audit of the Crofting Commission”

Meeting date: 4 November 2021

Richard Leonard

Craig Hoy has another question.

Public Audit Committee

Section 22 Report: “The 2020/21 audit of the Crofting Commission”

Meeting date: 4 November 2021

Richard Leonard

Thank you. With that undertaking, I thank Pat Kenny and Graeme Greenhill for their evidence this morning, which has been very helpful, and of course I thank the Auditor General for leading on the evidence that has been brought before us. Once again, I place on the record our thanks to him.

10:15 Meeting suspended.  

10:16 On resuming—  

Public Audit Committee

Section 22 Report: “The 2020/21 audit of NHS National Services Scotland”; and “Personal protective equipment”

Meeting date: 4 November 2021

Richard Leonard

Thank you very much, Auditor General. I want to press ahead straight away with questions. I turn to my right, to Sharon Dowey.

Public Audit Committee

Section 22 Report: “The 2020/21 audit of NHS National Services Scotland”; and “Personal protective equipment”

Meeting date: 4 November 2021

Richard Leonard

Thank you. Some of us might describe it as excess profiteering from a global pandemic.

My next question is not designed to catch you out. My eye was drawn to a line that says that the auditor reported that the audit work did not find

“any issues with the quality of goods procured or the companies contracted.”

The report goes on to talk about cost overruns.

I will not always rely on the media for my sources, but I was struck by a story that the Sunday Mail ran—the weekend after the report came out, I think—which included the following figures:

“We can reveal that millions of masks and goggles were binned after a rush to secure vital PPE as Covid struck”,

including

“90,000 respirator valve masks made by US firm Medline ... Three million pairs of goggles lenses and frames from US company Tiger Medical Products ... 66,000 face masks from Dumfries-based Alpha Solway—some of which were poorly made”,

and

“700 charity donated masks it was feared were made at forced-labour camps in China.”

What was your methodology, and how did you arrive at a point where you could make the categorical statement that you make in the report?

Public Audit Committee

Section 22 Report: “The 2020/21 audit of NHS National Services Scotland”; and “Personal protective equipment”

Meeting date: 4 November 2021

Richard Leonard

We are coming towards the end of the evidence session. I know that Craig Hoy has a couple of questions, and I want to touch on the long-term planning of NSS and future funding, which is a subject in which we have taken an especial interest. We have looked in our rear-view mirror at how things have gone over almost the past two years, but we also want to look at some of the consequences for the future.

We note from the report that there still appears to be financial uncertainty for NSS—I do not know whether that has changed since the report was published—and that there is consideration of the pausing of some areas of development work by NSS. Will you outline which areas of its work are being paused, or will potentially be paused? What is your assessment of the risks of not progressing that work?

Public Audit Committee

Section 22 Report: “The 2020/21 audit of NHS National Services Scotland”; and “Personal protective equipment”

Meeting date: 4 November 2021

Richard Leonard

I end the session by inviting Craig Hoy to be very topical.