Education, Culture and Sport Committee,

Meeting date: Tuesday, May 9, 2000

Official Report 363KB pdf

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Budget Process

We need Karen Gillon back in to speak to the paper.

Would it be possible for me to make my comments now, as I have to go? I have very few comments to make.

Karen is back. On you go, Nicola.

The paper covers a lot of the stuff that I would have covered. First, I want some reassurance. Will agreeing this paper preclude us from raising other matters with the minister when he comes?

No.

If we are to be satisfied with the evaluation of outputs and with how targets are being met, the important thing is for us to know what the starting point is—what previous targets were. If the target is to achieve 5,000 classroom assistants, we need to know that there are not 4,999 at the moment.

On page 2, there is a question about identifying unused resources at the end of the current financial year. Do the figures for 1998-99 and 1999-2000 include any underspend? We keep hearing about end-year flexibility—the money is being used to fund all sorts of things. What proportion of the figures was not spent on education? It would be useful to know what the plans for 1998-99 and 1999-2000 were so that we know whether what was spent reflected expenditure plans or whether expenditure fell short or exceeded the plans.

Perhaps Karen Gillon would like to say something about the paper.

I went through the information that we had with the clerks and the Scottish Parliament information centre. One of the things that we noticed at the outset, the point that Nicola picked up on, was the need to know how targets are measured. The paper is fairly badly set out. It is difficult to link up points a, b and c and pull them together.

We wanted to prevent a lot of discussion about technical points, so we decided to get information on them first, to better inform our discussions with the minister. That means that people will have a chance to consider the general points before the minister comes so they will be able to deal with more of the specific details when he is here. We were genuinely trying to be helpful; we were not trying to preclude or hamper any discussion. In fact, the reverse is true. We were trying to enable a more informed discussion.

Are there any questions or comments? If not, I remind members that the minister will be in attendance on Tuesday 23 May in the afternoon. The meeting will start at 2 o'clock to give us plenty of time to discuss the budget process.

Thank you for your time.

I am sorry, convener, but can I go back to item 2?

You can indeed, Fiona, if you are quick.

I will be very quick. I have heard that Save the Children is producing a toolkit on consultation with young people, which is in draft format. I think that it would be appropriate for us to approach the people at Save the Children to ask them to send us a copy of the draft and, if we can find time, to come and tell us about it.

I am happy to take that on board.

We will meet here next Monday at 2 o'clock. I hope to complete the bill then.

Meeting closed at 16:07.