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Displaying 1309 contributions
Public Audit Committee
Meeting date: 14 March 2024
Jamie Greene
Why is that? What red flags might we see, a couple of years ahead, of projected lower performance relative to other parts of the UK or to similar economies? For example, you say that, in a productivity comparison, we are 16th out of 38 economies, which is around midway through the pack, but clearly we could do better. What is influencing that lower productivity and growth? What analysis should be undertaken of how we could make immediate improvements? That would generate more money for public services.
Public Audit Committee
Meeting date: 14 March 2024
Jamie Greene
I am sure that there will be opportunities for Parliament to address those issues with the Government. Other members will probably delve into the specifics of some of those gaps.
I will conclude my questioning by making a wider point. Auditor General, you said that much of the strategy is down to prioritisation or choices. I presume that those are policy choices that are under the control of ministers. Is there an intrinsic conflict between, for example, pure economic growth and the wellbeing economy? Is it difficult for Governments to balance those two different policies? The strategies for both approaches might take them in very different directions.
Public Audit Committee
Meeting date: 14 March 2024
Jamie Greene
That is interesting. Other pieces of legislation going through other committees are looking at the remand issue. Certainly, in any interactions that I have had with the judiciary, there is very much a feeling that remand is used as a last resort, with the presumption against releasing people when they are charged and go back to court.
Public Audit Committee
Meeting date: 14 March 2024
Jamie Greene
Would you recommend that if that were the case?
Public Audit Committee
Meeting date: 14 March 2024
Jamie Greene
Indeed. I am sure that we could have a whole session on whether public services are fit for purpose once people are released, and another one on rehabilitation and what we are doing right or not doing right in Scotland.
My final point is a grave one: deaths in custody. Across prisons and other forms of custody, it is estimated that there are around four deaths per week. Those are not solely in prisons, of course, but a worryingly large number of people are dying in the different levels of the prison estate. Is that part of your watching brief? Do you have any views on that, or have you performed any analysis of why those numbers are so high? Have you made any recommendations to the Prison Service or to ministers on how that number can be reduced?
Public Audit Committee
Meeting date: 14 March 2024
Jamie Greene
No, I commend you for the work that you have done. However, clearly, all that work will be made more difficult with an increasing population, an antiquated estate and the lack of resource and assistance.
Public Audit Committee
Meeting date: 14 March 2024
Jamie Greene
Good morning. I will start with the basics. From your briefing, it seems that Scotland has two issues: sluggish growth in gross domestic product, and low productivity. Is that assertion correct?
Public Audit Committee
Meeting date: 7 March 2024
Jamie Greene
The consequentials could be used in that way. Have you had a discussion with ministers about that?
Public Audit Committee
Meeting date: 7 March 2024
Jamie Greene
Before you do that, other members might want to speak about specific projects, which would give you an opportunity to elicit some of the detail.
I presume that, when you were looking at overall budgets five to 10 years ago, at the conception stage, buffer zones would have been introduced to cover potential rises in costs or inflationary costs—those could be rises associated with pure inflation or other associated rises. However, it seems that all the headroom has gone completely, and that that is the reason why you are now making prioritisation choices as opposed to wondering how to pay for things that have already been committed to.
Public Audit Committee
Meeting date: 7 March 2024
Jamie Greene
Let us face it: very few large-scale infrastructure projects come in under budget, and all governments suffer from things tending to overreach massively. It is a common problem.
However, I want to work out what on earth the Scottish Government will do next when choosing where to spend its money. It had a £5.9 billion capital budget last year. Although, arguably, that will reduce over the coming years, it is still a substantial amount of money, but it is clearly not enough to complete the projects that have hitherto been committed to.
The Auditor General was critical that it is unclear how the Government chooses to prioritise infrastructure spending. What process will the Government go through to decide whether to replace a prison or to build a national treatment centre, for example? There are clearly competing calls for both, depending on which objectives it is trying to meet.