17 March 2011 - Audit Scotland

1. Apologies for absenceApologies were received from Michael Ash.2. Declarations of interestsColin Duncan declared an interest in relation to Item 10 as a member of Ayrshireand Arran NHS Board, of which the leader of North Ayrshire Council is also amember.3. Decisions on taking business in privateThe Commission agreed to take items 13 and 14 in private in order to allowdeliberation on the action to be taken on the relevant reports.4. Minutes of meeting of 20 January 2011The minutes of the meeting of 20 January 2011 were submitted and approved,subject to Item 6 being revised to show that the Commission had agreed to aproposal to appoint Alan Campbell as a member of the Performance AuditCommittee.5. Minutes of the Performance Audit Committee of 3 February 2011The Commission noted the minutes of the meeting of the Performance AuditCommittee of 3 February 2011.6. Chair’s introductionThe Chair reported that—As a result of the revised structure of the Audit Scotland Board under the PublicServices Reform (Scotland) Act 2010, the Scottish Commission for Public Audithas appointed Ronnie Cleland, an existing independent non-executive member ofthe Board, as Chair. Recruitment for a third independent non-executive member isunder way.Following the Commission’s decision on statutory performance indicators inDecember, the Chair and Deputy Chair met representatives of COSLA, SOLACE,the Improvement Service and Directors of Finance to discuss the continueddevelopment of local outcome indicators and performance reporting. Furtherdiscussion is expected before the Commission considers its approach to its 2011statutory direction in the autumn.Four reports had been published since the Commission last met – An overview ofLocal government in Scotland 2010, and the performance audits published jointlyon behalf of the Commission and the Auditor General on Edinburgh Trams InterimReport, The Cost of Public Sector Pensions in Scotland and MaintainingScotland’s Roads. The Chair expressed the Commission’s thanks to AuditScotland’s communications team for their work to support these publications.Jim King had attended a conference on shared services on 7 February on behalf ofthe Commission, and gave a short report to the Commission.{PAGE }