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Chamber and committees

Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 8 August 2025
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Displaying 2597 contributions

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Public Audit Committee

“Community justice: Sustainable alternatives to custody”

Meeting date: 28 October 2021

Colin Beattie

In that case, you also accept that there is an issue around accountability and lines of responsibility. It is therefore a question of what you will do to change what is happening now in order to ensure that those required outcomes are achieved.

Public Audit Committee

“Covid-19 vaccination programme”

Meeting date: 28 October 2021

Colin Beattie

I will ask more questions about that in a second. Page 5 of our Scottish Parliament information centre briefing shows the proportion of the population that has received the vaccine. Pretty much all the way down the line there is a discrepancy between those who got dose 1 and those who got dose 2. It is a not insignificant discrepancy, overall. Why is that?

Public Audit Committee

“Covid-19 vaccination programme”

Meeting date: 28 October 2021

Colin Beattie

Ah. It is a private paper. It shows that, by local authority area, there is a discrepancy of a few percentage points between take-up of dose 1 and take-up of dose 2. Did you encounter that during your audit? Did you note that?

Public Audit Committee

“Covid-19 vaccination programme”

Meeting date: 28 October 2021

Colin Beattie

Has that impact assessment been published yet?

Public Audit Committee

“Covid-19 vaccination programme”

Meeting date: 28 October 2021

Colin Beattie

Actually, I would like clarification on something first.

You mention in the briefing paper that vaccines were allocated according to the Barnett formula, so I presume that they were allocated on a population basis. Were there any issues with that, given the fact that Scotland has different demographics and, therefore, different priorities for the volume of vaccine that would be needed at any particular time? Was that taken into account in any way and did you note whether any issues arose from it?

Public Audit Committee

“Covid-19 vaccination programme”

Meeting date: 28 October 2021

Colin Beattie

I turn to some of the points that Willie Coffey raised. Exhibit 4 contains some fairly detailed information, the source of which is, I understand, Public Health Scotland. Given our previous experience with data, are you comfortable that the figures are accurate?

Public Audit Committee

“Community justice: Sustainable alternatives to custody”

Meeting date: 28 October 2021

Colin Beattie

Given that we want everybody to understand fully where they are and what they do and to work together cohesively, would Community Justice Scotland benefit from additional powers to support its role—for example, powers that would enable it to drive a more strategic approach to planning—and create a better, more disciplined line of accountability?

Public Audit Committee

“Community justice: Sustainable alternatives to custody”

Meeting date: 28 October 2021

Colin Beattie

Yet stakeholders and Audit Scotland have expressed concerns.

Public Audit Committee

“Community justice: Sustainable alternatives to custody”

Meeting date: 28 October 2021

Colin Beattie

You mean Community Justice Scotland carrying on with what it has been doing before, which has not really given the hoped-for results.

Public Audit Committee

“Community justice: Sustainable alternatives to custody”

Meeting date: 28 October 2021

Colin Beattie

Data is essential, but if people do not necessarily fully understand the responsibilities and areas of accountability and so forth, you have a fundamental problem right from the start. It seems that the softly, softly approach behind the scenes over a number of years has not delivered. There must therefore be a need to revisit that to see what needs to be done to pull it together.