Meeting of the Parliament

Meeting date: Tuesday, October 4, 2022

Official Report 1147KB pdf

Committee Announcement (Finance and Public Administration Committee)

The next item of business is an announcement by the Finance and Public Administration Committee on its “Report on the National Performance Framework: Ambitions into Action”. I call Daniel Johnson, deputy convener of the committee, to make the announcement.

Yesterday, the Finance and Public Administration Committee published its report on how the national performance framework is working in practice. The NPF is the national framework to which all public services in Scotland should be aligned, reflecting broad national strategic goals. The national outcomes cut across all policy areas and are relevant to the remits of almost all parliamentary committees. Indeed, the revised national outcomes will be scrutinised by all committees as part of the Scottish Government-required consultation process over the coming year. We intend our report to serve as context to that process.

During our inquiry, we learned that, although the NPF remains important in articulating vision, there needs to be more sustained progress on its use in implementing policy, measuring policy outcomes and informing Government activity. In particular, the NPF must be seen to be used to inform financial decision making and as a measure for financial accountability to a much greater degree.

The committee is convinced that visibility of the NPF must be increased, and we urge all parliamentary committees to engage with it and consider how they can use it to scrutinise and understand Government spending, decisions and policy.

I commend the report to the Parliament, and the committee looks forward to working with members and other committees as we scrutinise the forthcoming revised national outcomes.