Seòmar agus comataidhean

It does, a wee bit. I am sure that other members are seeing loads of empty shops being left to rot in town centre high streets. On a number of occasions, I have tried to get the owners or the agents to do something about such places—even just to clean them. Simple requests to clean up buildings and make them look a bit more appealing often fall on deaf ears because it all comes down to cost, eventually. The document contains noble aims about future proofing and reinventing our city centres, but how do we bridge that gap when some owners or agents refuse even to clean up a building or shop and get rid of the graffiti from the windows? How on earth do we achieve that? Is the NPF the right place for us to attempt it?

If a local authority serves an amenity notice on an owner or an agent of a shop or a building, and it is not carried out, actioned, challenged or whatever, does the burden then fall on the local authority to complete the action? I have heard that that might be the case. Perhaps that is why so few amenity notices are served. Is that case?

Auditor General, you might remember from the evidence session with our predecessor committee that the director general for education, communities and justice said that there might be greater

“scope for the Government to ... engage more”

directly with the Gaelic community

“to gauge their views on”—[Official Report, Public Audit and Post-legislative Scrutiny Committee, 4 March 2021; c 11.]

the board and their relationship with it. Did that happen? Has that been picked up naturally as a result of the work in the action plan that the board has recently been working through?

That is a good answer and the usual wise words from the Auditor General. I say a big well done to the board.

Madainn mhath, a h-uile duine—good morning, everyone.

First, I want to say well done to the board. I remember our predecessor committee’s session with Bòrd na Gàidhlig; it was a difficult session for those who were board members at that time. It is important to recognise the progress that has been made, as has been reflected in the Auditor General’s report, so I say well done to the cathraiche, or chair, and to the ceannard, or chief executive.

I have a couple of questions on the theme of openness and transparency. Auditor General, you will recall that, only a couple of years ago, those basic principles were not being met at all. We are still wondering why the sponsor division did not pick up on those issues. Nevertheless, can you say whether the sponsor division has played an active role in addressing those issues and has made a contribution to achieving the progress that we have seen?

It is positive to hear that. My questions are about how we engage with the wider Gaelic community, which is a key part of making progress. I think that everybody recognises that, and it sounds as though there has been great progress.

With regard to the recent continuous improvement plan, was there direct reach-out to Gaelic stakeholders and the Gaelic community, or did the board go through the process on its own to deliver the plan? It is important that the board reaches out to, engages with and works alongside the wider community, and gets its agreement to the plan. Was there evidence that such engagement took place?

It is good to hear that.

Turning to leadership and governance, the report is positive about the improvements that have been made in the stability of NHS Highland’s leadership. That is welcome, as are the comments about succession planning. I think that the report said that the first round of that was due to be completed by December. Has that work been done, or is it still in progress?

Thank you so much for that, Stephen. I think that the convener might wish to continue to develop the questions in that area, so I hand back to him.

Has the board regained the confidence of its stakeholders as a result of the good work that has been done?

I have a couple of short questions for Stephen Boyle about leadership and governance, but I want to go back to what Joanne Brown said about the Near Me digital platform. I think that she said that the number of digital consultations through Near Me had gone up from about 88 a week to about 1,000 a week. That is a fantastic transformation, which has been brought about by Covid.

Do you have a sense that that will remain in place if and when we get through the Covid emergency? Will that digital mechanism or model be retained? It seems to be a good one, and one that has been particularly successful for NHS Highland.