Audit Committee, 19 Mar 2002

Meeting date: Tuesday, March 19, 2002

Official Report 111KB pdf

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Moray College

Agenda item 3 concerns governance and financial management at Moray College. The Audit Committee is pleased to note that all the recommendations that were set out in our report on Moray College have been accepted in full by the Scottish Executive. In particular, the committee's support of the Auditor General's recommendation that Scottish ministers review governance and accountability in the further education sector has been accepted.

A review of the FE sector will take place in spring of this year, with a view to decisions being taken in the summer of 2002. The review will cover specific points that were raised in the Audit Committee's report. Those points include whether the appointment procedures secure an appropriate mix on college boards; the training and induction of board members; and whether the Scottish Further Education Funding Council's powers should be extended to allow it to intervene directly in cases of poor governance. The committee will monitor the progress of the review and we await with interest the Scottish Executive's findings.

The Executive's response to the committee's first and second recommendations refers to draft guidance and self-evaluation frameworks for colleges. The committee may wish to have sight of those in due course, once they have been agreed. The committee may also wish to seek the Executive's opinion on how the guidance and frameworks will work.

The Executive's response to the committee's third recommendation refers to moves to instigate procedures for SFEFC to alert the Scottish Public Pensions Agency to cases of misconduct, when it is aware of them. The committee may wish to seek further information about that once the details have been worked out.

Finally, the committee may wish to ask to be kept informed of the review that the Executive will request of SFEFC on

"the early identification of financial underperformance and the provision of expert advice to colleges".

Are members agreed?

Members indicated agreement.

In summary, the committee's recommendations have been accepted and we expect that the seventh recommendation, on learning the lessons from Moray College, will be delivered by the Executive. We will continue to monitor the progress of the review and await with interest the Scottish Executive's final findings.

I would like to clarify something. Obviously, the committee is pleased that the Government is prepared to act on the report, but perhaps we should ask in advance for a minister to be available for any questions that we might have about the review.

Do members think that the committee would be justified in questioning the minister? I am open to suggestions.

Sometimes, the committee criticises the Scottish Executive for not responding to documents, but this time the Executive has responded in full to every point that we made. We should recognise that. I hope that we will not need to seek discussions with ministers. Perhaps there could be informal rather than formal discussions. The committee could decide on that in the future. I am sure that the minister would be available, if that was required. We have always operated in that way.

I do not know whether Mr Davidson meant that a minister should be on hand in case we wanted to ask questions. That would be inappropriate. As Paul Martin said, if we wanted to clarify something that could not be clarified in writing and if we thought that it would be better for the minister to come to the committee, we could notify the minister about that. That course of action has always been open to the committee.

My understanding was that David Davidson intended that we could see a minister once we have seen the review. We will note David Davidson's suggestion, but we must wait for the review and the Executive's findings.