Minutes: 02 December 2021

1. Decision on taking business in private:

The Committee agreed to take items 4 and 5 in private.

2. The 2020/21 audit of the Crofting Commission:

The Committee took evidence on the section 22 report from—

Bill Barron, Chief Executive and Malcolm Mathieson, Convener, the Crofting Commission.

3. The 2020/21 audit of NHS National Services Scotland and Briefing on personal protective equipment:

The Committee took evidence on the section 22 report and briefing from—

Mary Morgan, Chief Executive, Carolyn Low, Director of Finance and Gordon Beattie, Director of National Procurement, NHS National Services Scotland;

Caroline Lamb, Chief Executive for NHS Scotland and Director-General for Health and Social Care and Richard McCallum, Director of Health Finance and Governance, Scottish Government.

4. The 2020/21 audit of NHS National Services Scotland and Briefing on personal protective equipment:

The Committee considered the evidence heard at agenda item 3 and took further evidence on the section 22 report and briefing from—

Stephen Boyle, Auditor General for Scotland;

Carole Grant, Audit Director, Audit Services and Ashleigh Madjitey, Audit Manager, Performance Audit and Best Value, Audit Scotland.

The Committee agreed to close its scrutiny of the report and briefing and write to the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee on issues raised during the meeting.

The Committee also recognised that there may be outstanding issues on the long-term planning and procurement and supply of personal protective equipment that the Committee may return to in the future. 

5. The 2020/21 audit of the Crofting Commission:

The Committee considered the evidence heard at agenda item 2 and took further evidence on the section 22 report from—

Stephen Boyle, Auditor General for Scotland;

Graeme Greenhill, Senior Manager, Performance Audit and Best Value, Audit Scotland;

Pat Kenny, Director, Audit and Assurance, Deloitte LLP.

The Committee will take further evidence on the report from the Scottish Government on the 16 December 2021.