Item 3 is consideration of the "Overview of the 2001/02 water authority audits", which is a report by the Auditor General for Scotland. Members will recall that the Auditor General for Scotland briefed the committee on the report at its most recent meeting, on 10 December. At that meeting, members indicated that they wished certain issues—in particular, the outstanding debt—to be pursued through correspondence. I would be grateful if members would highlight the issues that they propose should be taken up with the Executive.
In relation to reorganisation costs and efficiency targets, I want to find out how many employees there were in each of the categories in each of the three organisations prior to the formation of Scottish Water and I would like to know what the equivalent figures are now. We should find out whether we can extrapolate what costs were directly attributable to the merger. We should ask what action Scottish Water proposes to take to reduce the outstanding debt and whether it intends to take that action alone or in conjunction with local authorities.
I want to back up the point that Margaret Jamieson made, as I am particularly concerned about the reorganisation costs. I realise that front-line staff out in the field cannot be reduced, but a reduction should be made in headquarters staff so that the costs are recovered over time. The Auditor General has indicated that we should question Scottish Water about that.
I thank members for their contributions. We will seek clarification on the accountability and regulatory arrangements, the costs of reorganisation and the level of outstanding debt. I suggest that we do that by means of written questions, as the issues would have been pursued in an oral evidence-taking session had circumstances been otherwise. I suggest that the clerk follows the matter through; members will receive a copy of the response. If members so desire, we can discuss the response at a future meeting. Are members agreed?