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Item 4 is consideration of responses from the Scottish Government to two reports by the Commissioner for Public Appointments in Scotland. The first response, which is from the permanent secretary, is on a report about the appointment of a convener of the Advisory Committee on Sites of Special Scientific Interest. The response sets out details of the process that Government officials followed. The committee is invited to consider the options in paragraphs 6 and 9 of paper 1. Do members have comments?
I find it difficult to get too excited about the issue. I am happy to go along with the permanent secretary’s response.
The commentary that the Government was dilatory in seeking a new member of the advisory committee should perhaps be balanced against the knowledge that a public recruitment round generally costs more than—and often substantially more than—£10,000. When no clear requirement arises for a committee to be fully resourced, we should be cautious about setting out anything that suggests that every vacancy should be filled at once. That is the clear lesson that I take from reading the papers that are in front of us.
That comment is reasonable. If such a line had been followed in industry, most folk would say that it was the right approach. The effect was not material—the process was involved. I concur with Alasdair Morgan. Are members happy to take no further action?
The second response is from the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and relates to a report on appointments to the Scottish Legal Aid Board. The cabinet secretary sets out information about discussions that are taking place between his officials and the commissioner’s office to address some of the issues that are raised in the report, and about some administrative changes that have already been made.
Thank you very much for that.
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