Thank you, Presiding Officer. I thought that I would keep the tears until the end.
I thought that that was a shameful speech for Angus MacDonald, the son of a crofter from Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis, to make. He should be ashamed of himself. The crofters will certainly not be dancing in the streets of Stornoway tonight after hearing that.
The Public Audit Committee has been looking at Audit Scotland reports on the Government’s IT systems, particularly for farm payments, for some time. There is no political posturing and absolutely no hypocrisy in any of those reports.
I start with Audit Scotland’s 2012 report on Registers of Scotland. Its IT costs went up from £66 million to £112 million, which represents a £46 million overspend. The Government has form, and much more has been spent since then. Audit Scotland stated:
“Effective ICT is essential to allow public bodies to deliver services that are more timely, coordinated, less bureaucratic, and to improve their efficiency.”
We can all agree on that, and that is what every farmer, crofter and politician wants today. However, the report stated that
“a lack of specialist skills and experience ... contributed to a lack of understanding”,
and Audit Scotland added that
“The Scottish Government was unable to provide”
Registers of Scotland
“with all the advice and support”
it sought. That was the Scottish Government’s fault.
Audit Scotland said that the roles and responsibilities were not clear. It asked for
“effective governance and risk management arrangements”,
“robust performance management arrangements”,
“detailed skills assessments”,
strategic reviews, gateway reviews, better monitoring, a lessons learned exercise and steps to address inadequate risk management. Did the Scottish Government do that? No.
The Scottish Government was also told that it should
“compare the costs and benefits of investing in skills ... against the risks of failing to deliver ICT”.
In other words, it should spend taxpayers’ money investing in success rather than waste it on paying for failures.
It is all there: the problems; the analysis; and, most importantly, the solutions. The Government responded. It carried out a skills review, and it only took it two years to do so. Then it had an action plan for a central Government IT workforce, and it piloted the Scotland-wide area network IT programme, otherwise known as SWAN, which paddled away with another £70 million overspend on the farm payment system, along with a £50 million overspend on the NHS 24 system, which is still not working.
The Audit Commission’s 2015 report said that
“Information Systems ... did not have sufficient information”,
did not receive information from central Government and
“did not have the staff to pursue the lack of information.”
It also says that the Scottish Government was still finding it difficult to access skills. I just want to remind the Government that it is also in charge of education and training so, if there is a skills shortage, it is responsible.
The recommendations in 2012 were totally ignored.
That brings me to “The 2014/15 audit of the Scottish Government Consolidated Accounts”. There has to have been a serious failure before the Auditor General includes someone in that document, but here we are: serious concerns expressed by the Auditor General about the Scottish Government’s CAP payments.
I want to put on record the fact that the £78 million overspend is last October’s figure. I am aware that staff have been seconded from as far afield as Shetland to try to sort out the situation. The Public Audit Committee is getting an update by next Monday—not after the election, because that committee works well—and I can say that we will see that the overspend will be a heck of a lot more than £78 million.
I lay the blame fairly and squarely on the Scottish Government, and on Richard Lochhead in particular. I might have just a little respect for ministers if they would stand up and take just a little bit of responsibility for their actions.
This is my last speech and is probably the hardest to do. First, I want to thank my wonderful son and daughter for their support and forbearance. I want to thank everyone in the Highlands and Islands who gave their second vote to the Scottish Conservatives and placed their trust in me. It has been a great privilege to represent the Highlands and Islands in four sessions of this Parliament and to see so much of the amazing and stunning country that we live in.
Having been brought up in a tied cottage, where my father worked, and having left school at 15, I never dreamed that my life circumstances and sheer hard work would bring me here. I thank the Scottish Conservative Party. It has tolerated me through thick and thin over many years.
I remember the opening of the Parliament, when we marched down the Royal Mile in alphabetical order, and I was marching in between Alex Salmond and Tommy Sheridan. I do not think that any of us could forget that opening day, with Sheena Wellington singing, “A Man’s a Man for A That”.
I thank Sir Paul Grice and all the Parliament staff, because they are so thoroughly professional. I particularly thank our security staff. I think that they are just amazing.
I still feel excited about coming here. I still feel excited about going to committees. I have never forgotten the great privilege it is to be here and to be a public servant. I still read all my committee papers, and I always turn up half an hour before every committee meeting. I have enjoyed every minute of the Public Audit Committee, and I thank Hugh Henry and Paul Martin for their management of it.
I thank all MSPs for their friendship, and I acknowledge the commitment of members of all parties in this chamber to serve the people of Scotland.
I would particularly like to thank my pal, Christine Grahame. There are not many cross-party friendships, but I hope that ours will endure.