Official Report: search what was said in Parliament
The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.
All Official Reports of meetings in the Debating Chamber of the Scottish Parliament.
All Official Reports of public meetings of committees.
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Public Audit Committee [Draft]
“The National Fraud Initiative in Scotland 2026”
Meeting date: 24 September 2026
Neil Bibby
When you say “minors”, do you mean under-16s?
Public Audit Committee [Draft]
“The National Fraud Initiative in Scotland 2026”
Meeting date: 24 September 2026
Neil Bibby
Alan Brown has a supplementary, as well as some other areas that he wants to ask about.
Public Audit Committee [Draft]
“The National Fraud Initiative in Scotland 2026”
Meeting date: 24 September 2026
Neil Bibby
Thanks for that clarification. The report mentions that there were
“Two cases of dual full-time working”—
that is, someone having more than one full-time job—and
“Three cases of working in a secondary role while off sick from the main employer.”
I understand that more such cases were identified previously. Is there a risk of that increasing with more home working? Can you clarify who those individuals were working for? Were both the organisations that were being worked for covered by the national fraud initiative, or was it one organisation?
Public Audit Committee [Draft]
“The National Fraud Initiative in Scotland 2026”
Meeting date: 24 September 2026
Neil Bibby
So there could be more cases where an individual is working for one organisation that is covered by the national fraud initiative, but also works for somebody else entirely. There can be a gap there.
Public Audit Committee [Draft]
“Scotland’s colleges 2026”
Meeting date: 24 September 2026
Neil Bibby
With regard to providing clarity to the sector, your report talks about the colleges receiving £21 million this year through the Scottish Government’s plan to tackle child poverty. That is to support improved training and development opportunities for parents. It is part of the Scottish Government’s plan to reduce child poverty by 2031—to which the Parliament recommitted just on Tuesday.
If the sector is part of that plan, I assume that clarity from the Scottish Government would be welcome as to whether that money is more than just a one-off, one-year payment. Has the Scottish Government given any indication of why it is only a one-year payment and not multiyear funding, when it is part of a longer-term plan?
Public Audit Committee [Draft]
“Scotland’s colleges 2026”
Meeting date: 24 September 2026
Neil Bibby
I have a follow-up question, which touches on the value of voluntary redundancies. Appendix 2 of your report sets out the situation with voluntary redundancies. It says that, in 2024-25, 36 staff at UHI Perth took voluntary redundancy, with an exit package cost of £651,000, while 37 staff at South Lanarkshire College took voluntary redundancy at a cost of £1.168 million—that is a difference of one member of staff, but half a million in terms of the overall cost.
Further, at Glasgow Clyde College, 17 members of staff took voluntary redundancy at a cost of £339,000, while, at Glasgow Kelvin College, 15 staff took voluntary redundancy at a cost of more than £500,000. There is quite a disparity in terms of the amount being spent, particularly in the first example. Do you have any comments on that? I presume that the issue involves more senior staff.
Public Audit Committee [Draft]
“Scotland’s colleges 2026”
Meeting date: 24 September 2026
Neil Bibby
We have had a 195 per cent increase in the collective fiscal deficit of colleges—that is nearly three times the previous position—and a quarter of Scotland’s incorporated colleges now rely on emergency funding cash advances just to maintain daily operations.
We have covered a bit of this already, but at what point do those temporary advances risk becoming permanent, unrecoverable bailouts? Given that we have these deficits, which look like they are increasing, what would trigger Audit Scotland to declare that an individual college was financially unviable?
Scottish Commission for Public Audit [Draft]
Audit Scotland Annual Report and Accounts for the year to 31 March 2026 and Auditor’s Report on the Accounts
Meeting date: 18 September 2026
Neil Bibby
Thank you. I am sorry to hear about the circumstances around long-term sickness absences in the organisation.
With regard to improving resource and capacity, do you take on audit apprentices? If so, is there an opportunity to increase them in order to build capacity?
Scottish Commission for Public Audit [Draft]
Interests
Meeting date: 18 September 2026
Neil Bibby
I have no relevant interests to declare, other than that I am a member of the Public Audit Committee.
Scottish Commission for Public Audit [Draft]
Audit Scotland Annual Report and Accounts for the year to 31 March 2026 and Auditor’s Report on the Accounts
Meeting date: 18 September 2026
Neil Bibby
The annual report demonstrates the breadth of the work that Audit Scotland does—the sheer volume of it—and the quality of that work. Notwithstanding that, you rightly recognise that there are areas for improvement.
On page 19, the report talks about some of the pressures that staff are under in producing reports—only 46 per cent of them feel that they have sufficient time and resources. You have recognised that that is an issue, because it suggests that 54 per cent of staff do not have sufficient time and resources. You have talked about taking a new resource management approach in order to improve capacity, which is key. The report also shows an upward trajectory in the average number of sick days over the three-year period from 2023 to 2026.
Would you like to expand on the issue of capacity and whether staff feel that they have enough time, and how the new resource management approach relates to that? To what extent is the number of sick days that staff are taking having an effect on your capacity to produce the volume and quality of work that you do?
