Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

Public Audit Committee

Section 22 Report: “The 2020/21 audit of NHS Highland”

Meeting date: 13 January 2022

Richard Leonard

I am bound to reflect on the evidence that there has been a lot of controversy in the Highlands about the centralisation of services. So, when Joanne Brown speaks about service redesign, the question that many people in the Highlands will ask is, to what extent is that clinically led and to what extent is that financially led? It may not be for the Auditor General to offer commentary on that, but any reflections that you or Joanne can make would be useful in getting the inside track on what is pushing those changes.

Public Audit Committee

Section 22 Report: “The 2020/21 audit of NHS Highland”

Meeting date: 13 January 2022

Richard Leonard

Thank you very much—that is very useful. There is continuing public interest in the costs of the operation and administration of the healing process, and in the balance between that and the pay-outs themselves.

I have a final point that I want to ask about. Referring to the board risk assurance framework, the report states that

“further work is required to review and redefine some of the risks and the escalation process within the BRAF”.

Could you tell us a little bit more about what further work is required on that? I do not know whether that is for Joanne Brown or Stephen Boyle.

Public Audit Committee

Section 22 Report: “The 2020/21 audit of NHS Highland”

Meeting date: 13 January 2022

Richard Leonard

Thank you—that is useful.

I turn to Sharon Dowey, who has a series of questions on the theme of the cost pressures that are demonstrated in the audit report on NHS Highland.

Public Audit Committee

Section 22 Report: “The 2020/21 audit of NHS Highland”

Meeting date: 13 January 2022

Richard Leonard

Thank you, Willie.

Auditor General, you are absolutely right to talk about the human dignity and respect that are at the centre of the Sturrock report and recommendations. I want to look at the overall cost and some of the nuts and bolts of that. Do you have any indication of how many further recommendations for financial payments there are likely to be? Could you clarify who is footing the bill for that? Is the funding coming from the health board itself, or is any additional Scottish Government funding being made available? Could you, Joanne Brown or Leigh Johnston shed any light on what the division is between the value of the compensation payments that have been made and the cost and administration of the process?

Could you begin by addressing those points, Stephen?

Public Audit Committee

Section 22 Report: “The 2020/21 audit of Bòrd na Gàidhlig”

Meeting date: 13 January 2022

Richard Leonard

The second item on our agenda is consideration of an Audit Scotland report, “The 2020/21 audit of Bòrd na Gàidhlig”. I welcome our witnesses to the meeting. I introduce Stephen Boyle, who is the Auditor General for Scotland; Graeme Greenhill, who is a senior manager for performance audit and best value at Audit Scotland; and Pat Kenny, who is a director of audit at Deloitte PPE.

I invite the Auditor General to make an opening statement.

Public Audit Committee

Section 22 Report: “The 2020/21 audit of Bòrd na Gàidhlig”

Meeting date: 13 January 2022

Richard Leonard

Again I point out that if anybody wants to come in, they should simply put an R in the chat box.

I will round off this section of questions. Is the continuous improvement plan in the public domain, available and accessible, in particular to members of the community who have an interest in the work of the board?

I will start with Pat again.

Public Audit Committee

Section 22 Report: “The 2020/21 audit of Bòrd na Gàidhlig”

Meeting date: 13 January 2022

Richard Leonard

We will move on to questions about leadership, which the previous section 22 report identified as an issue.

Public Audit Committee

Section 22 Report: “The 2020/21 audit of Bòrd na Gàidhlig”

Meeting date: 13 January 2022

Richard Leonard

Before we finish up this evidence session, there is one other area that I want to touch on very briefly. One of the recurring themes in the work of the committee and its predecessor committees is a regular acquaintance with organisations that are not meeting the standards that we expect because of a failure to plan their workforce requirements for the present and the future.

I recall that the 2018-19 report on Bòrd na Gàidhlig identified insufficient workforce planning and an excess of vacancies as issues that were seen to be part of the fundamental problems that the organisation faced. Where are things with workforce planning now? Have there been improvements? Are there any other workforce priorities that the board needs to consider?

Public Audit Committee

Section 22 Report: “The 2020/21 audit of Bòrd na Gàidhlig”

Meeting date: 13 January 2022

Richard Leonard

That positive note concludes the committee’s questions. I thank the Auditor General, Graeme Greenhill and Pat Kenny for joining us to give their evidence and insights into the progress that has been made with Bòrd na Gàidhlig.

I draw the item to a close and suspend the meeting briefly.

10:21 Meeting suspended.

10:30 On resuming—

Public Audit Committee

Section 22 Report: “The 2020/21 audit of NHS Highland”

Meeting date: 13 January 2022

Richard Leonard

Welcome back to the first meeting of the Public Audit Committee in 2022. In this part of our deliberations, we will receive evidence on a recently completed Audit Scotland report into NHS Highland. I am delighted to welcome to give evidence the Auditor General for Scotland, Stephen Boyle—welcome back. In this session, Stephen is joined by Leigh Johnston, who is a senior manager for performance audit and best value at Audit Scotland. I am also pleased to extend a welcome to Joanne Brown, who is a partner at Grant Thornton and has been working on the audit.

I invite the Auditor General to make a short opening statement.

Parliament dissolved ahead of election

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