By Lucy Phillips
30 September 2010
The governance structures of Scotland’s public sector bodies are too complex, risking confusion over decisions about spending cuts, Audit Scotland has warned.
A report published today by the spending watchdog found that accountability across Scotland’s 106 public bodies varied greatly, with chief executives and boards reporting in different ways to the Scottish Government, ministers and Scottish Parliament.
The size and make up of boards differed significantly too. ‘This risks causing confusion about who leads an organisation and is responsible for its decisions,’ the auditors say.
The report, called The role of boards, looks at the governance arrangements of NHS organisations, colleges, executive agencies, non-ministerial departments, quangos and Scottish Water. Altogether the public bodies oversee £17bn of spending a year, equivalent to half the Scottish public budget.
Scotland’s auditor general Bob Black said: ‘The need for strong leadership and clearer accountability in the public sector is crucial, now more than ever with budgets reducing. Over the coming years boards will have to make tough choices about public services. There will be clear and well understood relationships between public bodies and the Scottish Government to agree priorities and manage budget reductions.’
The report also reveals that the number of people applying to become non-executive board members in the public sector more than halved between 2004/05 and 2008/09. The auditors suggest the fall in interest could be because of lengthy appointment processes, public perceptions of public bodies and the risk of damage to personal reputations.
