Are these public-sector failings replicated across the NHS?

The WICS board’s lack of oversight was characterised by governance failures that led to inappropriate and unacceptable use of public money. WICS had three board members, 24 staff and an annual budget of £4 million.

Following the discovery of a huge financial hole at Dundee University, the SFC has been involved in “monitoring and engaging with the University to improve financial governance and sustainability”.

Given that part of SFC’s remit is to perform assessments of management efficiency, exercise strategic oversight and set targets, it would seem that its eye may not have been on the Dundee ball over recent years. SFC had 14 board members, 172 staff and an annual budget of £9 million.

The well-publicised governance failings at HES have included allegations of racism within senior staff, a troubled workplace culture, and financial and procurement improprieties. HES had 12 board members, 1,100 permanent staff and an annual budget of £60 million.

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WICS, the SFC and HES are three of Scotland’s smaller public bodies where it should not be difficult to embed good governance, high standards of propriety, transparent accountability and proper use of public funds. They all failed.

If the Scottish Government can’t ensure that these three minnows are properly policed, what level of confidence can we have that their glaring deficiencies are not prevalent across the whole of the public sector.

NHS Scotland has 22 separate boards, several hundred board members, over 160,000 staff and an annual budget of £20 billion (around 40% of Scotland’s total budget).

The Auditor General has regularly called for stronger governance, comprehensive financial plans, system redesign, and transparency to manage the increasing pressures on NHS Scotland’s public funds and ensure value for money.

The Cabinet Secretary for Health owes the Scottish public an assurance that either the failings of the minnows are not replicated across the NHS whale; or if they are, what he is doing about it.

Sir Ewan Brown, Edinburgh.

Reclaim the poppy, or lose it

Neil Mackay’s article (November 5) raises issues I hadn’t considered, and I thank him for that.

His point about servicemen, and later women, fighting against the far right or fascism may be true of his own family, but it seems unlikely for most, especially during the First World War, when many enlisted under pressure, hardship, or patriotism.

The poppy became a symbol of remembrance only after that war, and only for Britain and Commonwealth dead.

I understand his reluctance to appear to support far‑right groups that have tried to hijack it, but abandoning symbols concedes them to abuse. Such groups have long misused flags, crosses, swastikas, even poppies.

Instead, we should reclaim them: flags to signal our countries, the swastika to represent peace and prosperity, red poppies for military remembrance, and white poppies — not pacifist, as many believe, but since 1933 intended to remember all war victims and promote peace. Surrender them to extremists, lose them forever.

Judith Campbell, Portree, Skye.

‘Culture war clowns’. Really?

Marissa MacWhirter (“Anti-trans ‘activism’ is a distraction from the real issues facing Scottish women”, November 7) describes For Women Scotland and their supporters as “culture war clowns”, which is needlessly insulting.

I attended the For Women Scotland demonstration at Holyrood on Saturday, November 1. The message could not have been clearer: theirs is not “anti-trans activism.” It is a defence of the legal rights of women, understood as adult human females, as set out in the Equality Act 2010.

These rights protect women from men in certain contexts where sex matters, evidence from Sweden’s registry cohort (1973-2003) being clear that men who identify as women have similar violent-offence rates to other men.

I was particularly disappointed that Ms MacWhirter chose to counterpose the work of Women’s Aid with For Women Scotland’s defence of the law, as if the two are incompatible. It is difficult to see how defending women’s single-sex rights as per the Act undermines support for women.

I noted, too, Ms MacWhirter’s assertion that “research shows that trans, non-binary, lesbian, gay and bisexual people face higher rates of gender-based violence.” Yet, as with women as a whole, it is sex-based violence that lesbians, gays and bisexuals face, specifically because of their same-sex attraction.

Ms MacWhirter’s framing reveals that she considers a person’s self-reported gender to be more important than the material realities of sex and sexual attraction – and more important than the law.

Incidentally, the Holyrood demonstration attracted a counter-protest – the pro-trans gathering referred to by Katie Cunningham (letters, November 8). The event I was part of was peaceful, comprised largely of ordinary women, and entirely free of the “right-wing” messaging to which Ms Cunningham refers. It was concerned only with safeguarding and with maintaining sex-based protections under the Equality Act 2010.

The only masked individuals I saw within the FWS crowd were men presenting as women who had entered the group to film attendees.

I condemn any violence towards trans-identifying people; however, the only violence I have ever witnessed at such demonstrations and events has come from masked Antifa-style young men presenting as women. One of the speakers that Saturday told of having had her wrist broken by such an individual.

Brian Forsyth, Edinburgh.

SNP keep groping in the dark

The SNP have again sanctioned the early release of prisoners.This is the third time that they have done this in an effort to control the numbers in prison.

I understand fully that overcrowding is a major and dangerous situation for prison wardens and the prisoners themselves. This is a never-ending problem as most of these prisoners re-offend and again are returned to prisons bursting at the seams.

The SNP have had fifteen years to deal with the problem effectively but no, they adopt the sticking plaster approach, which patently isn’t working. What is the point of the police apprehending and reporting these individuals if they are unlikely to serve a sentence commensurate with the crime they committed?

Thanks to the SNP we have a depleted, understaffed and overstretched, and underfunded police force. I hate to think what would happen if the police force was fully staffed. What then would happen to the extra individuals being given a custodial sentence?

The SNP talk the talk but sadly when it comes to prisons, police, ferries, NHS, education and roads they are found constantly groping in the dark.

Neil Stewart, Balfron.

Manifesto amnesia

Interviewed last Thursday, the First Minister was asked whether he would yet again break the 2021 manifesto commitment to freeze income tax rates. Looking rather perplexed, Mr Swinney replied, “I’m not conscious that we’re breaking a manifesto promise on income tax”.

In the SNP manifesto for 2021, their No. 14 pledge was “Freeze income tax rates and bands, and increase thresholds by a maximum of inflation, to keep money in people’s pockets.” As Finance Secretary in 2022, he told Holyrood that he had decided to increase the higher and top rates by 1p for the 2023/24 budget.

It is deeply concerning that he has no recollection of his own party’s manifesto pledges or his own announcements on tax rises. Or is it more a case of having little regard for pledges that are made purely to get re-elected? I’ll let you decide.

Jane Lax, Aberlour.

Glasgow’s plight

Peter Capaldi’s comments about Glasgow (“There’s something wrong with Glasgow”, November 9) reflect a concerning truth: our city continues to struggle with deep-seated issues like child poverty. It underscores a failure in leadership that prioritises political posturing over real solutions. Instead of ignoring these systemic problems, we need a government committed to effective action and genuine reform in tackling poverty and inequality.

Alastair Majury, Dunblane.