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.
Criathragan Hide all filters
Displaying 2151 contributions
|
Public Audit Committee
Section 22 Report: “The 2020/21 audit of Scottish Government Consolidated Accounts”
Meeting date: 24 February 2022
Colin Beattie
Local authorities are confirming to you the number of cases and so on, but you do not have information on what they are doing about them. You say that the authorities are pursuing cases vigorously, but you have no evidence to show that.
Public Audit Committee
Section 22 Report: “The 2020/21 audit of Scottish Canals”
Meeting date: 24 February 2022
Colin Beattie
Auditor General, turning to a slightly different aspect, I note that the report makes it clear that the cost of running Scottish Canals exceeds the funding and income. Paragraph 11 says that, in 2020-21, the income was £18.8 million and the outgoings were £22.7 million, so there was a net negative of £3.9 million. What are your views on the financial sustainability of Scottish Canals?
Public Audit Committee
Section 22 Report: “The 2020/21 audit of Scottish Canals”
Meeting date: 24 February 2022
Colin Beattie
[Inaudible.]—there is something I want to ask. I was going to ask what the role of the external auditors was, because they must have been advising the board all the way along. Were they ignored? Did they not give sufficient advice, guidance or clarification? Perhaps Joanne Brown can give us a bit more information on that.
Public Audit Committee
Section 22 Report: “The 2020/21 audit of Scottish Government Consolidated Accounts”
Meeting date: 24 February 2022
Colin Beattie
When Colin Cook referred to the value of the assets, he talked about their book value. Are we relying on that rather than their market value?
Public Audit Committee
Section 22 Report: “The 2020/21 audit of Scottish Government Consolidated Accounts”
Meeting date: 24 February 2022
Colin Beattie
So we are basing this on the book value of the assets according to the company.
Public Audit Committee
Section 22 Report: “The 2020/21 audit of Scottish Government Consolidated Accounts”
Meeting date: 24 February 2022
Colin Beattie
How often will you revisit the matter to ensure that the value of the assets has not been impaired?
Public Audit Committee
Section 22 Report: “The 2020/21 audit of Scottish Government Consolidated Accounts”
Meeting date: 24 February 2022
Colin Beattie
Okay.
Public Audit Committee
Section 22 Report: “The 2020/21 audit of Scottish Government Consolidated Accounts”
Meeting date: 24 February 2022
Colin Beattie
I am sure that there will be an appetite for that when the time comes.
I want to move on to fraud and irregularities around Covid-19 expenditure. Obviously, the two big business support schemes totalled nearly £1.6 billion. They responded quickly to Covid-19. Obviously, there was a need to get money to the right place at the right time very quickly, which opens up a higher-risk element.
I notice that the Scottish Government estimates that fraud and error will account for 1 to 2 per cent of those payments, involving approximately £16 million to £32 million. How does that equate to the figures that we see coming from Westminster, which are obviously on a bigger scale? We see estimates from there of £15 billion or more. Have we been better at it? Given that Westminster has had that experience, why are we better? Why is the figure not proportionately as high here?
Public Audit Committee
“Administration of Scottish income tax 2020/21”
Meeting date: 3 February 2022
Colin Beattie
That would be excellent.
Paragraph 1.5 on page 11 says:
“In some areas of the calculation, data are not available in sufficient detail to identify income tax liabilities, reliefs or other adjustments relating to individual taxpayers.”
Again, that will require making a huge estimate.
Public Audit Committee
“Administration of Scottish income tax 2020/21”
Meeting date: 3 February 2022
Colin Beattie
But if it happens every year, there is clearly a flaw in the system.
