Watchdog investigations rise due to public sector ‘pressures’

Watchdogs conducted a record number of investigations last year because of “increasing strains” on Scottish public bodies.

NHS Tayside, NHS Highland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and Bord na Gaidhlig were among the organisations to be the subject of a section 22 report by the auditor general for Scotland, or a section 102 probe by the controller of audit.

A total of 14 of the reports were published in 2019-20, the highest ever, following a previous record of 11, which was set the year before, in 2018-19.

Caroline Gardner, auditor general for Scotland, said that the investigations were generally carried out into “things that have gone wrong”, and the rise reflected the “pressures” being put on public bodies during the ongoing spending squeeze.

Problems with IT services had been a “common theme”, as well as issues with procurement and colleges, she told MSPs on the Scottish Commission for Public Audit on Monday.

NHS Tayside had been the focus of five reports into financial and governance issues in the last five years, while there have been three probes relating to NHS Highland.

A further study was produced last year into HIE’s running of the Cairngorm Mountain ski resort and funicular railway, while a range of issues relating to transparency were highlighted at Bord na Gaidhlig.

The Scottish Prison Service, the Scottish Police Authority, Social Security Scotland and the delayed Royal Hospital for Children and Young People, in Edinburgh, have also been the subject of recent section 22 reports.