Watchdogs soar

ski resort and funicular railway, while a range of issues relating to transparency and culture 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.

Ms Gardner said: “We think that the increasing number, which has gone up in 2018-19 as well as 2019-20, does reflect the pressures on audited bodies.

“They are a significant part of our work, which we have to actively manage year on year, and we have flagged the increasing number because I think it is a trend that we are watching very closely at the moment.”

Asked about specific issues, Ms Gardner said: “IT services has been a common theme in my areas of responsibility, as you see on the public audit committee.

“They do require extra resource – I wouldn’t say necessarily more, again, compared to, for example, the work we’ve done on NHS Tayside over the last few years.

“Both of those do require senior staff and expert staff. They are experts in different ways, but I don’t think it is necessarily more for IT systems than it would be for the sorts of complex governance problems we’ve seen at NHS Tayside.”