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Audit Scotland
Meeting Date
Meeting For
Audit Scotland
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1.52 MB
Post-meeting Document
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Meeting Date
Meeting For
Audit Scotland
Post-meeting Document
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2.65 MB

The Auditor General has submitted a report to the Scottish Parliament relating to governance issues at Community Justice Scotland (CJS) in its first year of operation.

CJS was established by the Community Justice (Scotland) Act 2016 as a non-departmental public body to promote and encourage improvements in community justice, shifting from short custodial to community-based sentences to reduce reoffending and reintegrate people into the community.

East Lothian Council has improved significantly but faces big challenges with a rising population, says the Accounts Commission.

A new report today by the local authority watchdog looks back to a highly critical report in 2007 which highlighted various failings, including leadership, openness and financial planning at the council. East Lothian's population grew by nearly 20 per cent between 1997 and 2017, the fastest growing council area in Scotland, and is set to expand further, particularly among children and the over 75s.

 

Our report on NHS in Scotland 2018 was published in October 2018. The Tableau visualisation below illustrates real term spending on people and agency staff, prescription volume per head, trends in activity and demand, key performance standards and rates of sickness and turnover.

Immediate action is needed to shift the NHS towards long-term, fundamental change.

In her annual review of the NHS, the Auditor General for Scotland finds that performance continued to decline in 2017/18 and the NHS is not financially sustainable in its current form. Pressure is building in several areas, including major workforce challenges, rising drug costs and a significant maintenance backlog.

The Auditor General has submitted a report to the Scottish Parliament relating to the 2017/18 accounts of the Scottish Public Pensions Agency (SPPA).

It concerns a £5.6m million contract awarded by the SPPA in 2015, as part of a business transformation programme, to Capita Employee Solutions to develop an integrated administration and payment system.

The Auditor General has reported to the Scottish Parliament that NHS Highland and NHS Ayrshire and Arran face significant financial challenges, which are likely to continue in the years ahead.

The reports note that these boards are unable to deliver services within budget, savings targets have not been met and it will be difficult to achieve financial sustainability in future.  A significant proportion of their savings to date have been one-off savings.

The Scottish Government needs to be more transparent about the annual reporting of its accounts, including loans to private companies, says the Auditor General.

The 2017/18 consolidated accounts - which received an unqualified audit opinion - show that the overall budget was underspent by £339m, compared to £85m in 2016/17.

The resource budget was underspent by £287m and capital by £52 million, with the main underspends coming in the Education and Skills portfolio (£115m) and Rural Economy and Connectivity portfolio (£74m).

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