Public Audit and Post-legislative Scrutiny Committee

Meeting date: Thursday, June 1, 2017

Official Report 519KB pdf

Major Capital Projects (Progress Update)

Item 2 is consideration of an update from the Scottish Government on progress on the major capital projects; it covers the six-month period up to March 2017. The covering paper by the clerks highlights four suggestions about information that could be included in future updates—I think that they came from the Auditor General. Do members agree to ask the Scottish Government to progress those?

Members indicated agreement.

Great.

I suggest that we also ask for some additional information on issues such as the economic impact and the number of jobs generated during the construction phase, because I think that there is a good story to tell on the amount of investment that comes through procurement. We have been given capital costs, but a number of the projects are revenue projects, so there is what is called the net present value, which is different from the capital cost. If we get both those figures, that will allow us to understand what the true cost is, which I think would be useful.

I am conscious that other committees might be interested in the progress update; members have pointed that out previously. I suggest that we share that information with other committees, as is the practice of the clerks.

If members are happy with that, the only thing left to consider is whether we would like to take oral evidence on the update in September; I suggest that we wait and see what information we get back before making a judgment. Hopefully, we will be able to decide whether it would be helpful to take oral evidence before the start of September. Is that agreed?

Members indicated agreement.

Excellent. There is no meeting next week, for some strange reason, so I look forward to seeing members in a fortnight’s time.