Item 4 deals with national health service bodies in Tayside. The responses from the Scottish Executive and NHS Tayside—the NHS Tayside response includes a report from Tayside Health Board—seem to address positively all the issues raised by the Audit Committee. The Executive and Tayside Health Board have accepted all the committee's recommendations and conclusions and have indicated what action has been or will be taken to address each point. They have also indicated who has primary responsibility for implementing each of the recommendations and the time scale for implementation. I am happy to note that the Scottish Executive describes our report as thorough and that our 15 recommendations and conclusions either have been implemented or are on-going, with firm timetables set for implementation.
In the table that is appended to the Scottish Executive's response, recommendations 11 and 12 highlight the health department's monitoring role. At recommendation 13, the Executive says:
Yes. We have always said that our reports are not one-offs. The officials who are involved will return to explain their actions and the improvements that they have made. We will have opportunities to deal with the issues. The rolling programme of investigation of the NHS by Audit Scotland will provide another opportunity.
The points that I raised concerned the health department's activities rather than those of Tayside. I appreciate that the health authorities need time to do their bit. I am more concerned about the comments on the department's activities.
What I said also applies to the health department, but it would be convenient to take evidence from all involved at the same time, rather than at separate meetings.
Those matters were raised extensively when we questioned the then chief executive of the NHS in Scotland, Geoff Scaife. The committee homed in on the way in which he operated. What has happened has continued for many years in the health service. If we look for changes that we can recommend, we are considering matters that are not for this committee but for someone else.
Our investigations relate to the Audit Scotland report.
As has been said, a comprehensive investigation has been conducted. We should pick up the points that Peter Bates made when he gave evidence. In his closing statement, he said that NHS Tayside should be given the opportunity to make recommendations and act on them. We should monitor that process through Audit Scotland and perhaps revisit the matter to ensure that the recommendations have been acted on, because the health board has presented its position well and must be commended on that. However, it goes without saying that its delivering on its intentions is the important part of the process.
I will respond to Mr Davidson. We have a pretty robust and comprehensive statement about how the health department and the health board are proceeding following the publication of our report. On recommendation 13, I highlighted the fact that the health department has said that it will share the protocol with the committee when it is finalised. At our previous meeting, several bodies—including one of which we had been critical—provided clear updates on how they had implemented all the recommendations that we made. I have no doubt that that will happen with Tayside.
The responses from Tayside Health Board and the health department—but particularly the one from Tayside—are comprehensive and impressive. We should take on board what Peter Bates said. The organisations have been subjected to an intensive investigation that has lasted several months. It is only fair to let the new regime have a chance to settle in. We could reconsider the matter towards next summer.
Our report has been recognised as one of the most direct and significant that the Parliament has produced. I note the willingness to learn from the past. We will allow time for the bodies involved to settle down. They can report to us after a suitable interval.
I say for the record that we examined carefully both sets of responses and we think they are good.
The committee has raised issues such as failures in formal reporting and investigation by health officials, the breakdown in management control and in effective systems of internal financial control and the need to restore public confidence and robust and effective monitoring systems. Our comments have produced positive responses—some measures are in place, some will be effective from a set date and some work is on-going with set dates for completion. The committee should note that there is work in progress and that we will return to the matter.
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