Good morning. I welcome everyone to the first meeting in session 7 of the Public Audit Committee. It is an honour for me to have been elected by the Parliament as the committee’s convener. It is also a duty and a privilege.
I take this opportunity to welcome all members to the committee. Dawn Black, Miles Briggs, Alan Brown and David Kirkwood, I look forward to working with you all in the session ahead. I am aware that, for three of our members, this is the first Scottish Parliament committee that they have sat on, but I believe that, between us, we have a mixture of experience and fresh perspective that will serve us well.
Public bodies in Scotland spend nearly £70 billion a year. That is not the Government’s money or the Parliament’s money, but the people’s money. Our duty is to ensure that the people’s money is well spent in the interests of the people; we must ensure that it is spent properly and wisely. We are the guardians of taxpayers’ money.
Accountability means not only asking the difficult questions but ensuring that the work of the committee is accessible and understood by the public. Public bodies are accountable to us, and we expect full openness and transparency from them. We are accountable to the public, and they deserve robust and effective scrutiny from us on their behalf. That work starts today, and I look forward to working with you all to achieve that.
Under our first agenda item, each of us is asked to declare any interests that are relevant to the work of the committee. I have no relevant interests to declare.
I declare that I am a sitting councillor on Aberdeenshire Council, but that is all.
I have no relevant interests to declare.
I have no relevant interests to declare.
I have no relevant interests to declare.
That is excellent. Thank you, members.
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Deputy Convener