Executive promises to learn from Holyrood
The Scottish Executive has promised that it will learn the lessons of the Holyrood Inquiry and modernise the way it manages projects and procures services.
The pledge, from Scottish Finance Minister Andy Kerr, came as the Parliament voted to accept Lord Fraser’s report into the commissioning and building of Holyrood.
First Minister Jack McConnell, who chose not to speak in the debate, came in for intense criticism from a number of MSPs, in particular from Fergus Ewing of the SNP. Leading the debate for the Opposition, he accused Mr McConnell of lying to Parliament about the known costs of the project during a 1999 debate, which was won by only three votes.
The SNP’s amendment to the debate, which contained criticism of the First Minister, was defeated 86 to 24. A Conservative motion, which urged for ministers to take greater responsibility for the project’s failures was defeated 68 to 42.
Overall, MPs voted to accept the conclusions of the Fraser Report into the building, which came in three years late and massively over budget.
In his report, Lord Fraser concluded that there was no single “villain of the piece” and exempted politicians from stringent criticism, instead focussing on mistakes made in the civil service in particular the disastrous decision to adopt a construction management model, which meant tax payers were left with whole bill for any overruns.
Speaking yesterday, Andy Kerr, said: “This is the time to learn from the Fraser report. To signal the end of the civil servant as a gifted amateur. This is the time to make ministerial involvement in key procurement decisions a pre-requisite. This is the time to move on.”
Mr Kerr, who will be responsible for implementing the reforms to procurement process recommended by Lord Fraser, said: “Scottish Executive Ministers accept responsibility for taking forward the recommendations in Lord Fraser’s report that apply to the Scottish Executive. The First Minister has already made that clear. We accept responsibility for making the necessary reforms of the civil service within the Executive and for putting in place the changes to ensure that these kinds of delays and cost overruns do not occur again.
“We know that the Treasury guidance on the handling of procurement has changed since key decisions were taken on this project in 1998. These changes reflect a degree of caution about the use of the construction management for major public sector projects. This Treasury guidance now forms the basis of our approach to these matters.
“The Executive will implement further improvements in its procurement and project management practice.”
On the civil service, he promised to increase the proportion of senior civil servants with direct experience of delivery in other fields; increase the proportion of civil servants who have a professional qualification relevant to the job that they do; and increase ministerial involvement in the objective setting for civil servants.
He also specifically promised that in future the advice of professional advisors employed on a project will be put directly to ministers, rather than filtered through the civil service.
