I hope that we can deal quickly with our remaining agenda items. Members will recall that the committee commissioned external research into moving to outcome budgeting. After the research was published, a number of public sector bodies were asked to take part in a consultation exercise, and their responses are summarised in the paper that members have received. Copies of the full responses are also attached. Do members have any comments?
I suggest that we deal with the two recommendations at the end of the paper.
That is fine by me.
I am quite happy to take evidence from the Scottish Executive at this stage. However, I am not convinced that we need to rush immediately into a civic participation event. Indeed, we should certainly hold off on any decision to take further steps until we speak to the Executive, as it is responsible for and has ownership of the original concept.
That seems fair enough.
I agree with that point. Given the evidence, it is questionable whether the committee should invest any time on the matter, other than to ask the Executive for a point of view. There is no danger of us dealing with the public. If the basic organisations in Scotland have reported a lack of understanding of the procedure, the issue will come up in three or four years' time. In the meantime, we should seek the Executive's views.
I wonder whether we even need a special evidence-taking session with the Executive. I suspect that, given the stage that things have reached, we could cover the matter under a regular budget item instead of making it a separate item on the agenda.
Perhaps we should also ask the Executive for a specific paper in advance.
I suggest that we link our consideration of the issue with a request to the Executive for a paper updating us on how resource accounting and budgeting and the monitoring processes that are attached to it are being implemented this year and next. We could also ask about its intentions for future years. Are members agreed?
Previous
Scottish Parliament Building Project