Chief Executive’s Report to the SPCB October 2017 · 2020. 4. 23. · The table below shows the number of parliamentary questions and motions submitted over the previous three summer

Chief Executive’s Report to the SPCB October 2017

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Introduction This report looks at work carried out during September and October. The report also includes the SPCB financial report for Period 5 of the 2017-18 financial year. Some of the items to note include:

The Scottish Government announced its legislative programme for the second year of the session. This includes 16 further proposed Government Bills in addition to the large volume of legislation still being scrutinised by the Parliament from the first year of the session.

The Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Relations Committee visited Brussels on 11 September. Among other high level meetings the Committee met with Michel Barnier, Chief Negotiator at the EU Commission.

The Local Government and Communities Committee inquiry into homelessness has begun with a moving and informative evidence session with six participants with experience of homelessness.

The TV pages of the Parliament’s website have been recently upgraded with a new more user friendly layout. The pages are also now fully compatible with all devices.

The Festival of Politics took place between Thursday 19 and Saturday 21 October under the theme of Rebellion and Revolution. Ticket sales were strong, beating levels achieved in previous years.

The Scottish Youth Parliament will hold their Autumn Sitting in the Debating Chamber on Friday 27 October chaired by the Presiding Officer, with a further session taking place the following day.

If you have any comments or questions on any aspect of this report, I would be happy to discuss them with you. P E GRICE Clerk/Chief Executive

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OVERVIEW OF PARLIAMENTARY ACTIVITIES Parliamentary Business In early September the First Minister announced the Scottish Government's legislative programme for the second year of the session. This includes 16 further proposed Government Bills to be introduced by summer recess 2018. There is a substantial volume of legislation from the first year of the session still being scrutinised by the Parliament. Ten Government Bills previously introduced are still before the Parliament, along with two Member's Bills and three Private Bills. This, when combined with scrutiny of the LCM for the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill, is likely to lead to a heavy legislative workload for the Parliament in late 2017 and the first half of 2018. The table below shows the number of parliamentary questions and motions submitted over the previous three summer recesses. There is a dip in the number of questions submitted since last summer but this is offset by an increase in number of motions which have more than doubled in number over last three summer recesses. Last 3 recesses (1 July to 25 August)

2015 2016 2017

PQs 776 983 854Motions 360 501 729Total 1136 1484 1583 The Parliamentary Business Team is supporting the Presiding Officer and the Parliamentary Bureau in managing the implementation of the recommendations of the Commission on Parliamentary Reform. A proposed timetable for consideration of the various recommendations referred to the Bureau has been submitted to the Presiding Officer's Advisory Group. Papers on the various issues will be brought forward for consideration by the Bureau over the coming months. The Standards Procedures and Public Appointments Committee will shortly begin consideration of recommendations referred to it from the Commission on Parliamentary Reform. It was announced on 13 October that the date on which Scotland's new Lobbying Register will come into force will be 12 March 2018. This date will be confirmed in due course by a set of commencement regulations to be brought forward by Scottish Ministers. Prior announcement of the date allows for a familiarisation period for potential registrants to access the website and practice making information returns. The website will be available for this purpose from 23 October.

Draft parliamentary guidance on the Act, prepared in conjunction with the Lobbying Register Working Group, will shortly be submitted for consideration by the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments

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Committee prior to formal consultation with Scottish Ministers, as required by the Act.

The programme of briefings with Party groups and Scottish Ministers has continued. A final session with the Scottish Labour Party will be confirmed after October recess. Outreach events with external stakeholder groups continue. Recent events have been held with SCVO, CBI and representatives from the insurance sector. Billy McLaren has recently begun a six month period of leave and Dougie Wands will take on the role of Acting Lobbying Registrar for the duration of Billy's leave. The Local Government and Communities Committee is undertaking an inquiry into building regulations and fire safety in Scotland, holding three evidence sessions on the fire safety aspect of this work so far. This work is taking place alongside a high profile public discussion of the issues and assurances given in relation to public sector high rise buildings in Scotland following the tragedy at Grenfell Tower. It was also the topic of the first urgent question being asked in Parliament on 21 September. The Committee's inquiry into homelessness has also begun with a very moving and informative evidence session with six participants who have experience of homelessness. The Committee's work will continue with further evidence sessions in October and a fact finding visit to Finland to explore the Housing First approach to addressing this issue. The Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Relations Committee visited Brussels on 11 September to meet with Michel Barnier, the European Commission's Chief Negotiator on the Article 50 Withdrawal Negotiations. A note of the meeting can be found on the Committee’s webpage. During the visit the Committee also met with the UK Representation Office to the EU, the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union, the Swiss Ambassador to the EU and the Scottish Government. The visit was part of the Committee's ongoing inquiry into the Article 50 Negotiations. On 19 September our Environment Manager and I gave evidence to the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee on how the Scottish Parliament meets its duties under the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009. The session covered a number of areas, including utilising Scottish producers/suppliers in procurement and energy use but the primary theme was the encouragement of behavioural changes, ranging from switching off lights, closing windows and drinking from reusable cups to the choices by Members and staff in their travel arrangements. Parliamentary Engagement Offices across the Parliament continue to look for ways in which they can work together to support Members and encourage engagement by the public with the work of the Parliament.

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For the Local Government and Communities Committee inquiry into homelessness, Outreach Services helped clerks to identify potential witnesses. Working over a number of months with Shelter Scotland and Life Changes Trust, the team visited the ‘service users’ in their local communities. This enabled staff to provide support to those giving evidence and prepare them for what to expect of the committee process. On the day, Outreach Services met the witnesses, providing continuity of support and the comfort of a familiar face, staying with them to watch the Committee proceedings ahead of their attendance to ensure they felt prepared for participation in the evidence session. The Media Relations Office and the Web and Social Media Team worked with the witnesses to promote the evidence taking session. Promoted through the website homepage and the Committee's own Twitter feed, the meeting was streamed live on Facebook. An Instagram story was developed (which can be viewed here) which followed the journey of two witnesses to the meeting at the Parliament as well as seeing behind the scenes of the meeting itself. Two of the young people also told their stories to the media, resulting in a double page feature in a national newspaper. The Facebook post reached just under 5,400 people and the video was viewed by over 2,158 people. This compares to an average of 85 for committee meetings on parliament.tv. The Instagram story got 6,535 unique views. We know that around 56% of our followers are under 35 and are likely to have had little if any exposure to the work of the committee previously. This targeted use of the different media channels ensured a wider audience was reached, helping to further raise awareness of the issue of homelessness. The participants’ feedback after the meeting was that they felt empowered and listened to. They also said they found the experience less intimidating than they had feared, and commented positively on how supported they had felt throughout. The outcome for the Committee was valuable first hand evidence on the impact of homelessness presented by witnesses who were confident and comfortable with taking part in the process. For the Parliament as a whole, use of our various communication channels enabled us to reach a much wider audience than might otherwise have been the case, helping them to see their Parliament as relevant to them, and open to them. Scottish Parliament TV

The TV pages on the Parliament’s website have recently been upgraded. The layout of the site has been streamlined and modernised with a cleaner interface. Most importantly the site is now fully responsive to all devices, meaning it will display properly on smartphones, tablets and screens of all sizes.

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As well as cosmetic changes, there has been a major overhaul of the functionality of the site. The home page now has a “Today's Schedule” displaying only the meetings which are currently running, so that users know exactly what is going on in each room without having to read the Business Bulletin first. As meetings occur in the Parliament's Committee Rooms or Chamber these will appear, fully named, in the Schedule. Improvements have also been made to the video archive with a new “filter by” function to help users find what they are looking for. Events and Exhibitions The Festival of Politics 2017 took place between Thursday 19 and Saturday 21 October under the theme of Rebellion and Revolution. Advance bookings for the festival were strong with record breaking ticket sales over the three days. A programme of free family films, exhibitions, music, dance and comedy formed part of the Festival Café Bar in the Main Hall. A full report on the Festival will be brought to the SPCB in due course. The Presiding Officer took part in a photo call on Tuesday 24 October to mark the installation of the Royal Mail’s Pride Post Box which will be located next to the Post Office in the Garden Lobby until Monday 6 November. The Pride Post Box celebrates the diversity of the Royal Mail’s 11,000 employees working across Scotland. On Wednesday 25 October the Presiding Officer hosted a reception to mark the 200th Anniversary of the Bahá’í community in Scotland. Representatives from multi-faith groups from across Scotland attended. The Scottish Youth Parliament will hold their Autumn Sitting in the Debating Chamber on Friday 27 October chaired by the Presiding Officer. A further session of the Youth Parliament will take place on Saturday 28 October. There will be a focus on parliamentary business, with MSYPs engaging in a number of live issues that are the subject of scrutiny by our committees. Forward Look The Presiding Officer will host a reception to launch the 2017 Poppy Appeal on Wednesday 1 November in the Garden Lobby. It is expected that the event will be well attended. Deputy Presiding Officer Linda Fabiani MSP will host a reception for the Highland and Lowland Reserve Forces and Cadets Associations in Scotland on Tuesday 21 November in the Members’ Room. The Arctic Circle 2017 Conference, which is a meeting of Artic Circle nations, will take place in Scotland for the first time next month. As part of this conference the Presiding Officer will host a reception for delegates on Tuesday 21 November in the Main Hall.

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The St Andrew’s Day Debate will take place in the Debating Chamber on Monday 27 November chaired by Deputy Presiding Officer Christine Grahame MSP. Visitors September saw over 26,000 people come into the building, slightly down compared to September 2016’s figure of just under 28,000. The guided tours programme was well attended where a 132% capacity fill saw some 2,368 visitors joining the tours that were operated. This compares with a 93% capacity fill in September 2016 when 1,665 visitors joined tours. This large increase is due to the number of additional “Gallery Talks” offered when regular tours were at capacity. These talks allow significantly larger groups to be accommodated for stationary talks in the Debating Chamber rather than a full tour.  

In addition to the guided tours the regular “Ten Minute Talks” continued to attract a good number of visitors, with 1,726 visitors enjoying these brief introductions to the Parliament in September. Parliamentary Services Committee Room 5 Camera Upgrade One of the infrastructure projects recently completed by the Broadcasting Office was the replacement of the broadcast cameras in Committee Room 5. This provides a number of advantages:

The number and positioning of cameras in the room has been changed to greatly improve the coverage available.

The cameras are much more discreet, being considerably smaller and silent in operation.

The new cameras whilst being cost effective are full high definition cameras with the advantage of far higher quality images.

Committee Room 5 was chosen for the upgrade as it previously was the most challenging in terms of providing good broadcast coverage. The installation will be monitored and reviewed with the intention of using this room as a model for upgrading the other committee rooms in future. The move to high definition required the vision control area in the upper basement where the committee room cameras are controlled to be upgraded. The new installation with flat screen monitors now gives the Broadcasting Office better monitoring, is more ergonomic and offers considerable power savings.

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Alert messaging system Following the Parliamentary Question raised by Dean Lockhart MSP, Members were contacted to advise how their staff could have their personal contact information added to the e-HR system so it can be drawn into the Alert Messaging system. Members’ staff have been contacting Public Information and we will review take-up during the first week of November. Conferences and networks The SPICe training week, titled "Changing futures" took place over the first week of the October recess. The training week was open to all SPCB staff and saw a range of high-profile internal and external speakers taking part. Two days were dedicated to Brexit and included sessions on how the Scottish Government is preparing for Brexit and on the economic implications of Brexit from the Fraser of Allander Institute. We also heard from the Irish Consul General, Mark Hanniffy on the view from Ireland. As well as Brexit, there was also one day dedicated to the "Digital Future", which included sessions on Big Data and recent digital developments. Lastly there was one day focusing on "Scotland's future", which included sessions with the Economist Intelligence Unit and an examination of Scotland's skills needs. Eight SPICe staff attended the annual Inter-Parliamentary Information Network conference in Westminster. Much of the focus of the conference was on Brexit. In addition to this SPICe led sessions on minority government, data visualisation and academic engagement. The Financial Scrutiny Unit hosted a visit from the Permanent Secretary and Executive Management Board of HM Treasury as part of a wider visit to Edinburgh on 12 October. The meeting, which I chaired, was a really useful opportunity to build contacts and relationships with senior staff at the Treasury. The intention is for this to be followed up with a reciprocal visit in the future. Art Collection The painting “Service” by David Rowlands will again go on display in the Garden Lobby for the period Monday 30 October to Monday 13 November, which will take in the 2017 Poppy Appeal Launch on Wednesday 1 November and Remembrance Sunday. The loan of the Robert Burns match-head sculptures from the artist David Mach will come to an end in December. The artist has loaned the works to the Art Collection since the 250th anniversary of the poet’s birth in 2009 but now requires them for an exhibition.

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59 shopping days ‘til Christmas! The Parliament Shop is preparing for the anticipated rise in sales towards Christmas and it is expected that the official Parliament Christmas cards will be available for Members to order within the next month. The popular Christmas Shopping Discount Days are also being planned again for December.

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SPCB FINANCE REPORT Period 5 – August 2017

1. This report is to inform SPCB of general financial activity and expenditure

trends in 2017-18.

Executive Summary

Performance against Budget (year to date variance)

a) Total SPCB revenue and capital expenditure

Para 2 & 6

b) Total SPS expenditure

Para 8

c) Total project expenditure

Para 9

Operation of Financial Controls

d) Key reconciliations up to date

Para 4

Other Key Indicators

e) Payment performance

Para 4

Key: RAG Status

Financial Commentary

2. The Scottish Parliament’s total revenue and capital expenditure for the 5

months of 2017-18 of £32.7m represents an underspend against budget of £1.1m (3.1%) which is within the SPCB’s target range of 0% to 5.0% (as shown in green in the Executive Summary chart). The comparable position for the first 5 months of 2016-17 was expenditure of £33.9m which represented an underspend against budget of £1.1m (3.2%).

3. Central contingency increased by £25k in August as a result of the net transfer of funds from office budgets. The reforecasting exercise in September will be reflected in the Period 6 figures.

4. All key reconciliations are up to date. Payment performance within contract

terms for the year to date exceeds the 99% target. The equivalent figure for payment within 10 days is 97.7% for the year to date.

5. The 2016-17 year-end accounts process is now complete with the draft

accounts reviewed at the AAB meeting on 20 September and approved by the SPCB on 21 September. An unqualified audit certificate has been received from the Auditor General for Scotland.

Performance within target range

Performance outwith target range but acceptable

Performance outwith target range not acceptable

100%

99.4%

G

A

R

3.1%

3.0%

1.3%

2

Financial Results

6. The SPCB’s total revenue and capital expenditure per Schedule 1 for August

2017 is £32.7m, which is £1.1.m (3.1%) under the approved year to date budget of £33.8m. This is similar to the underspend for August 2016 of £1.1m (3.2%).

7. The table below shows actual monthly expenditure (red) up to the end of August and the current reforecast monthly expenditure (green) for the remaining 7 months of the year. The original monthly budget profile is shown by the black line.

4.6

3.5 4.2

3.1

5.0

3.2

2.6 3.2 2.1

2.9

1.7 2.1 1.6 1.9

1.6

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar

%-a

ge

Trend of Total Monthly Underspend

17/18 16/17

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 P7 P8 P9 P10 P11 P12

£ M

illio

n

17-18 Original Budget vs Actual and Reforecast Spend

MonthlyExpenditureto date

CurrentMonthlyBudgetprofile toyear end

OriginalMonthlyBudgetprofile

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Actual expenditure in the first five months of 2017 was £1.5m lower than originally planned at the start of the year. Consequently, budgets have been re-phased, with planned expenditure pushed back to later months.

The SPCB’s central contingency and project funding not yet allocated to specific projects are included in the period 12 figures.

Members’ expenses are phased to reflect higher monthly expenditure in the final quarter of the year.

Parliamentary Service Costs (Schedule 2)

8. The year to date expenditure for the Parliamentary Service (SPS) of £17.7m is £0.6m (3%) under budget. Parliamentary Service Costs incorporate both capital and revenue projects. The previous year’s expenditure of £17.4m at period 5 was £0.5m (3%) below budget. An analysis of the current financial year by main category of expenditure is shown in the two charts below.

10,559

216

2,843

2,322

1,744

10,616

365

2,923 2,568

1,767

9,865

178

3,001

2,400 1,961

0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

Total Staff Costs Total StaffRelated Costs

Total PropertyCosts

Total RunningCosts

Total Projects

£'0

00

Parliamentary Service YTD Expenditure £k

Actual 17/18 Budget 17/18 Actual 16/17

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Staff Pay (including Agency staff, overtime and contractors) is marginally underspent at £57k (0.05%).

Expenditure on staff pay to date is £10.6m, £0.7m (7%) higher than the equivalent 16-17 costs of £9.9m.

Expenditure on Staff Related Costs is £216k. This is £149k (40.8%) below the budget to date of £365k. Actual spend on staff related costs is £38k (21%) higher than that for the equivalent period in 2016-17. Corporate and job related training are underspent by £107k. £63k of the combined training budget (£366k) is not yet committed or forecast.

Property Costs of £2.8m are £81k (2.8%) below the Year to Date budget. This is due to an underspend of £92k in maintenance offset by a £17k overspend in property advisors.

Running Costs of £2.32m are £246k (8.8%) under budget. Key underspends are Printing (£36k), Telephony (£26k) and Advisors (£21k).

24

246 81

149

57

100200

Projects

Running Costs

Property Costs

Staff Related Costs

Staff Pay

Underspend £k Overspend £k

Parliamentary Service YTD Under & Overspends £k

107

92

36

26

21

Training

Maintenance

Printing

Telephony

Advisors

PS (Excluding Projects) Key YTD Under / Overspends £k

5

Project Reporting (Schedule 3):

9. Schedule 3 shows project spend by category of project.

Total project expenditure to August 2017 is £1.74m, £24k (1.3%) under the year to date budget.

Revenue Projects show a total spend of £736k, an underspend of £22k (3%). Only 19% of the annual revenue project budget has been spent to date with the remainder phased for later in the year.

Capital Projects have spent £1,008k for the year against a budget of £1,009k, an underspend of £1k (0.1%). 76% of the annual capital project budget has been spent.

This compares with 41.9% spent, 15.6% on purchase orders, 41% forecast and 1.6% uncommitted at the same time in 2016-17. Digital Services currently has net £984k uncommitted budget in 2017/18 of which £962k is not yet allocated to a specific project.

33.6%

8.9% 39.2%

18.2%

Project Budget Status August 2017

Spent

PO

Forecast

Uncommitted

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Members’ Costs (Schedule 2)

10. Members’ costs are analysed in Schedule 2, which shows £11.5m expenditure to August 2017, £187k (1.6%) underspend against the year to date budget. (The corresponding figures for 2016-17 at period 5 were an underspend of £469k, 3.4%, although these are not directly comparable due to the impact of election related costs in last year’s figures).

Commissioners & Ombudsman Costs (Schedule 2)

11. The SPCB’s funding cost for Commissioners and Ombudsman (Officeholders) as at August 2017 is £3.6m, which is £308k (7.9%) under the year to date budget. Officeholders contingency remains unchanged at £325k.

Central Contingency 12. Central contingency has increased by a net £25k, from £759k in July to £784k

in August. Outreach and Information Management Offices returned £20k & £10k budget respectively after reforecasting costs. A further £5k was added by cancellation of a duplicate accrual by Committee. £10k was transferred from contingency to fund the shortfall of office contributions to the vacancy gap.

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Other

FM Building & Equipment

BIT and Digital

Project Budget Status by Portfolio

Spent PO Forecast Uncommitted

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Commitment

13. This commitment position compares with 39.8% spend, outstanding

commitment 44%, forecast 15.8% and funds available of 0.4% as at August 16-17.

Actual Spend, £17.7m, 38.9%

Outstanding Commitment, £19.6m, 43%

Forecast, £7.1m, 16.6%

Funds Available, £1.2m, 2.6%

PS Committed Funds as at August 2017: £m,%

Period 5 August 2017 Financial Schedules

Schedule 1

Current OriginalAnnual Approved

Actual Budget Variance Variance Budget Budget£'000 £'000 £'000 % £'000 £'000

Parliamentary Service Costs (Schedule 2) 17,684 18,239 556 3.0 45,495 45,279

Members' Costs (Schedule 2) 11,460 11,647 187 1.6 29,277 29,277

Commissioners & Ombudsman Costs (Schedule 2) 3,576 3,884 308 7.9 9,624 9,624

Sub Total 32,719 33,770 1,051 3.1 84,396 84,180

Reserves - SPCB Contingency n/a 784 1,000

TOTAL SPCB EXPENDITURE 32,719 33,770 1,051 3.1 85,180 85,180

Year to Date

Period 5 August 2017 Financial Schedules

Schedule 2 Current OriginalAnnual Approved

Actual Budget Variance Variance Budget Budget£'000 £'000 £'000 % £'000 £'000

Parliamentary Service Costs

Staff Pay 10,559 10,616 57 0.5 25,633 25,339

Staff Related Costs 216 365 149 40.8 944 946

Property Costs 2,843 2,923 81 2.8 7,157 7,742

Running Costs (Including Events & Income) 2,322 2,568 246 8.8 6,575 6,802

Parliamentary Service Costs excluding Projects 15,940 16,472 532 3.2 40,309 40,829

Projects (Schedule 3) 1,744 1,767 24 1.3 5,187 4,450

Total PS Expenditure 17,684 18,239 556 3.0 45,495 45,279

Members' Costs

MSP & Officeholders' Pay 5,052 5,070 19 0.4 12,194 12,1940 0

MSP Expenses 6,229 6,373 143 2.3 16,543 16,5430 0

Party Assistance 179 204 25 12.3 540 540

Total 11,460 11,647 187 1.6 29,277 29,277

Commissioners & Ombudsman

Ethical Standards Commission 281 320 39 12.1 838 838

Standards Commission 102 111 9 8.5 259 259

Human Rights Commission 385 381 (4) (0.9) 991 991

Scottish Information Commissioner 586 655 69 10.6 1,573 1,573

Public Services Ombudsman 1,662 1,822 159 8.7 4,304 4,304

Commissioner for Children 559 594 34 5.8 1,334 1,334

Reserves - C&O Contingency 0 0 n/a 325 325

Total 3,576 3,884 308 7.9 9,624 9,624

Year-to-date

Period 5 August 2017 Financial Schedules

Schedule 3

Project Summary : July 2017 YTD Actual £k

YTD Budget £k

Variance £k

Variance %

Current Annual Budget £k

Original Approved Budget £k

% Spent of Total Budget

Outstanding Commitment

£k

Forecast Funds Available

Revenue Projects Allocated 736 758 22 3.0 2,905 2,304 25.3% 437 1,777 (45) Unallocated 0 0 0 n/a 962 1,146 n/a 0 0 962Total Revenue Projects 736 758 22 3.0 3,867 3,450 19.0% 437 1,777 917

Capital Projects Allocated 1,008 1,009 1 0.1 1,320 820 76.3% 26 259 28 Unallocated 0 0 0 n/a 0 180 n/a 0 0 0Total Capital Projects 1,008 1,009 1 0.1 1,320 1,000 76.3% 26 259 28

TOTAL 1,744 1,767 24 1.3% 5,187 4,450 33.6% 462 2,036 945

By Portfolio: YTD Actual £k

YTD Budget £k

Variance £k

Variance %

Current Annual Budget £k

Original Approved Budget £k

% Spent of Total Budget

Outstanding Commitment

£k

Forecast Funds Available

BIT and Digital 268 298 31 10.3 1,695 1,059 15.8% 240 1,166 22FM Building & Equipment 1,328 1,338 10 0.7 2,225 1,845 59.7% 200 719 (22)Other 148 131 (17) () 305 220 48.5% 23 151 (17)

Total Projects Allocated 1,744 1,767 24 1.3 4,225 3,124 41.3% 462 2,036 (17)

Unallocated Project Budget 0 0 0 n/a 962 1,326 0.0% 0 0 962

TOTAL 1,744 1,767 24 1.3% 5,187 4,450 33.6% 462 2,036 945