02 June 2006
Scotland's public sector watchdog has defended itself against claims by members of the Scottish Parliament that it might not be achieving best value following rising costs in its budget.
Auditor general Bob Black was recently grilled by members of the Parliament's finance committee on his own accountability and on Audit Scotland's budget.
Figures show that staff numbers increased from 195 in 2000/01 to 279 in 2005/06 while the organisation's budget has risen from £15.5m to more than £24m over the same period.
Black was clearly surprised at the tone of questioning by the MSPs on the finance committee.
After the hearing, held in connection with the committee's inquiry into governance and regulation, committee convener Des McNulty said he did not think the auditor general was able to demonstrate that he was providing value for money. 'How does Audit Scotland answer the questions which it is quite properly asking of other organisations?' he said.
Audit Scotland's director of corporate services, Diane McGiffen, has now written to the committee in an attempt to demonstrate the organisation's commitment to achieving value for money in the use of resources.
She stresses that Audit Scotland is held to account in a 'detailed and rigorous' fashion through statutory arrangements put in place by the Scotland Act and by Parliament through the Public Finance and Accountability Act. The Scottish Commission for Public Audit, she states, is central to these arrangements and plays a robust and effective role.
McGiffen points out that Audit Scotland has been given responsibility for a range of new audits, including further education colleges, Scottish Water and new agencies such as Transport Scotland.
She notes that the total managed expenditure of the Scottish Executive in 2005/06 was just over £27bn, an increase of 50% on its 2000/01 total of £18bn.
'As Executive spending has increased, so have the requirements for audit and therefore our costs to meet this new level of demand.'
McGiffen says Audit Scotland applies 'the best value principles to everything that we do in managing our own resources'.
She points out that an increase in expenditure in 2002/03, from £16m to £20.6m, was almost entirely due to a change in the organisation's VAT status.
Further movement between 2003/04, when expenditure rose to £20.9m, and 2004/05, when expenditure totalled £24.9m, was due in part to the introduction of the statutory duty of Best Value in local government, which was reflected both in Audit Scotland's budget and its staffing trend.
PFjun2006
