Public Audit Committee
The 2020/21 audits of Crofting Commission and NHS National Services Scotland
Letter to Convener from Stephen Boyle, the Auditor General for Scotland, 22 November 2021
Dear Convener
The 2020/21 audit of the Crofting Commission
The 2020/21 audit of NHS National Services Scotland; Personal protective equipment briefing paper
At its meeting of 4 November 2021, colleagues and I briefed the Committee on my report The 2020/21 Audit of the Crofting Commission; followed by my report The 2020/21 Audit of NHS National Services Scotland and a briefing paper on Personal Protective Equipment.
The Committee raised a number of questions related to these reports which we offered to provide more information on.
The 2020/21 Audit of the Crofting Commission
The employment of Commission staff
Members were interested in whether the Commission's staff were seconded from the Scottish Government or employed by the Commission on Scottish Government terms and conditions.
The Crofting Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 states that:
• The Scottish Ministers may provide the services of such staff to the Commission as the Commission consider appropriate.
• The Commission may appoint such employees as the Commission consider appropriate.
The Framework Document outlining the relationship between the Scottish Government and the Crofting Commission goes on to state that "The Scottish Government staff provided to the Crofting Commission will retain the terms and conditions of Scottish Government staff."
In other words, it is for the Commission to decide whether to appoint its own staff or use Scottish Government staff. When Scottish Government staff are provided, they retain their pre-existing terms and conditions.
All permanent and fixed-term Commission staff are Scottish Government employees and are recruited to the Commission via the Scottish Government HR process. This is for largely historic
reasons that pre-date the Commission's establishment as an NDPB. On its establishment, the Commission effectively retained its experienced compliment of staff on the same employment conditions when it switched over to NDPB status. The Commission considers that this arrangement is to its advantage as it avoids potential difficulties associated with a two-tier employment structure within the organisation, which could arise from staff being a mixture of those that the Commission has directly employed and Scottish Government employees. It also avoids the expense of the Commission setting up separate HR and Payroll Functions. In practice, Commission vacancies are advertised internally within the Scottish Government. Scottish Government staff working for the Commission can equally apply for other vacancies that arise in the Scottish Government. We are unaware of similar arrangements applying in any other executive NDPB in Scotland.
The election of Board members
Members were interested in the extent to which Board members are elected in other NDPBs.
Our review of NDPBs in Scotland has identified only two examples where Board members are subject to election. Under the National Parks (Scotland) Act 2000, National Park authorities consist of a maximum of 25 members, of which at least a fifth are elected. The remaining members are appointed by the Scottish Ministers, with half of these members being appointed on the nomination of local authorities with geographical areas within the National Park boundary.
The Cairngorm National Park Authority currently has 19 members, of which seven are elected. The Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park Authority currently has 17 members, of which five are elected.
The 2020/21 audit of NHS National Services Scotland; Personal Protective Equipment Briefing Paper
Daily stock bulletins
Members were interested in whether NHS NSS continue to provide daily PPE bulletins. Their purpose was to provide clear information on the availability of PPE in Scotland to front-line staff. As the stock situation improved the frequency of bulletins was reduced and the final bulletin was provided in May 2021. NHS NSS continue to provide a weekly dashboard of stock levels to a range of stakeholders.
Private social care providers use of the PPE hubs
Members asked about the amount of PPE provided to private social care providers free of charge and the extent to which this arrangement is still being used. NHS NSS have told us that since 1 March 2020 to 5 November 2021 it has provided 169 million items worth £32 million to private social care providers. Gloves and IIR masks make up the majority of these.
The monthly analysis shows that the demand from private social care provides has significantly reduced over the last few months. NHS NSS continue to monitor the demand for PPE to support the delivery of health and social care services.
PPE for the international market
Members were interested in whether Scotland was yet providing PPE to the international market. As we say in the briefing the Scottish Government PPE strategy and governance board has been considering the future strategy for PPE pandemic supply. Scottish Government has told us this work is progressing and will continue to March 2022 and beyond. NHS NSS continues to work with the Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise through the supply chain development initiative. We suggest this could be an area to explore with NHS NSS and Scottish Government.
I hope the Committee will find this additional information useful. Do let me know if we can assist further on the Committee's deliberations.
Yours sincerely
Stephen Boyle Auditor General for Scotland