SCOTLAND’S Auditor General has defended the independence of her department in the wake of claims that critical reports into the state of public finances were changed following pressure from civil servants.
In an exclusive interview Caroline Gardner insisted any amendments she makes are “evidence-based” and regular discussions with officials over her analysis are a “routine part of the process”.
Gardner heads up Audit Scotland, an independent body with around 250 staff scrutinising the finances of more than 220 organisations, including the Scottish Government, Police Scotland, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, Scottish Water, NHS boards, local authorities and colleges.
When asked whether her department’s independence has been challenged by accusations that she changed a recent report under pressure from civil servants, she said: “It clearly has been challenged. We’ve seen some media coverage just in the last few days about our engagement with government on FE (further education) colleges. The background is we always check the factual accuracy of reports because they have to be independent and credible. If we make a change to a draft report it’s because we think the evidence has been provided to justify it.”
It emerged last week that Scottish Government official Paul Johnston sent a letter to Gardner about possible changes to a report on colleges. The watchdog revised a reference to a 41 per cent drop in the student headcount since 2008 after the civil servant suggested a more “relevant reference point” of 2012.
Gardner said: “In the case of the FE report, it talks clearly about the declining student numbers since 2006/07 but when we were talking about the target for the full-time equivalent students that target didn’t come in until 2012 so, starting at 2011 as a baseline, I decided, was an entirely appropriate decision.”
In July it emerged that civil servants asked for changes to an NHS report, describing drafts as “alarmist” and unbalanced. Paul Gray, chief executive of NHS Scotland, and finance director Christine McLaughlin, made 35 requests for changes for accuracy and a further 51 “points of clarification”, which were largely rejected by Audit Scotland.
The Scottish Police Authority – the body that is accountable for the near £1billion policing budget – also asked Audit Scotland to change a long-term deficit projection of around £198 million and focus on a more “appropriate” figure of £60m. The Auditor General declined the request.
“More often than not the reports remain unchanged but occasionally we will say: “actually, yes, we will make a change” and that’s our decision, not anyone else’,” said Gardner.
Her department was even challenged by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon who told Holyrood in June: “We do not agree with the methodology” when the SNP leader was asked to justify the auditors’ findings that there were 220,680 students at college last year, the lowest number since 2006-07.
Gardner said: “In the same way that civil servants said to us you should calculate this in a different way, the First Minister may have been referring to an exchange like that and I decided as Auditor General the approach we’ve taken is the right one.
“I think in this political climate we’ve had more of that than we did in the past. I understand why that’s the case and I think it would be useful if we could all move on to looking at the issues in the reports.”
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said: “The Auditor General will share reports in advance to allow the Scottish Government and any other relevant bodies to provide comments or clarification on points of accuracy. As they have acknowledged, this is in line with their usual processes.”
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