Audit Committee, 12 Sep 2006
Meeting date: Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Official Report
245KB pdf
“The 2004/05 Audit of Inverness College”
The committee will consider a response from the Scottish Executive to our fourth report of 2006, "The 2004/05 Audit of Inverness College". I refer members to the paper that is before us.
I found both the tone of the response and its presentation helpful: it is concise, to the point and well presented, and not only was the tone appreciative of the committee's work but I got the sense that the Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning Department is willing to take on board our comments. I hope that, in the short time that is left to us before the end of the session, we can continue to work with other departments in the same way.
I seek clarification of paragraph 89 of the response. Although the department accepts our recommendation, it goes on to state:
"The SFC will shortly propose to colleges and to the Scottish Executive a statement of college Principals' responsibilities".
If that proposal is not accepted, what will happen? Will that leave matters up in the air?
We can write to the department to clarify that. It may require legislation, but it may be the case that the statement is accepted.
I am not aware of the process. It might well be that the colleges and the Executive have no option but to accept the proposal.
We will seek clarification on that point.
One positive aspect of the response is the acceptance of the points on timing and the rate of escalation of intervention. Although in our previous experience of colleges the style of intervention had been adequate, it had not been in this case. That suggests that the department and the funding council are learning from the experience of Inverness College.
I ask the Auditor General whether he or his team have any comments.
We have no comments.
If members agree, we will write to the department to seek clarification on the point that was raised earlier. After that, we can put the item to bed as a job well done by the committee.
I seek clarification on a matter that I cannot see in the paper, although I recall that we have touched on it. Do we know when it is expected that the review of Scotland's colleges, which is referred to frequently, will be completed? Is it worth seeking further clarification on that?
We can add that request to our letter to the department. We have been trying to keep an eye on the review, but it is a bit of a movable feast.
As we are doing so well for time, I will suspend the meeting—our witnesses for the next agenda item are not here yet. I will let members have a break until 10.30. That means that we will not take a comfort break later, although I am sure that members can put up with that.
Meeting suspended.
On resuming—