Chief Executive’s Report to the SPCB

September 2013

1

Introduction This report covers activity during the period of summer recess up to the middle of October and includes the Finance Report for Period 4 of 2013-14 and the Organisational Performance Framework (OPF) for Quarter 1 of 2013-14. Some of the items to note include:-

An update on the Members’ case management system pilot.

An update on the progress made on subtitling for FMQs.

The success of the Great Tapestry of Scotland exhibition.

High public interest in next month’s Andrew Carnegie Legacy events, especially the Andy Warhol exhibition.

The forthcoming fire evacuation exercise for zone 2 (garden lobby, QBH and ground floors of Towers 3 and 4).

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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SECTION 1 – OVERVIEW OF PARLIAMENTARY ACTIVITIES Chamber and Reporting Non Government Bills Unit

Draft Bills on Assisted Suicide (Margo MacDonald) and Building Repairs (David Stewart) are now at an advanced stage, and should be ready for introduction in the near future. Resources have been allocated to enable two further Bills, on British Sign Language (Mark Griffin) and on criminal verdicts (Michael McMahon), to be drafted. The Unit is supporting a number of other proposals for Members’ Bills, and is involved in the work being done by the SPPA Committee on a Committee Bill (Members’ Interests).

The Portobello Park Private Bill attracted 66 objections, and the Bill is now under scrutiny at Preliminary Stage. Two other Private Bills are in progress – one promoted by Glasgow Council (on the Burrell Collection), and one by Edinburgh Council (on Leith Links and the Surplus Fire Fund). Various changes to the rules for Private (and Hybrid) Bills have been discussed at official level for consideration by the SPPA Committee.

Business Team and Chamber Desk

Business Team and Chamber Desk staff met with a delegation of officials from Wales who were interested in learning about our restructured week and particularly question times, as the Welsh Assembly is currently reviewing its own procedures.

In light of the focus on improving corporate agility, the Chamber Desk put a notice in the Corporate Bulletin before the summer recess seeking expressions of interest in undertaking job shadowing in the Chamber Desk team over the summer. Thirty staff at Grades 2 to 6 from across the Parliament participated and a few MSP researchers and a contractor also took part. The shadowing consisted of spending a couple of hours with Chamber Desk staff who took colleagues through the work of the Desk, explaining the motions and questions process. The feedback received from participants was excellent and staff on the Chamber Desk also gained a lot from the experience. As well as increasing people’s understanding of the questions and motions process, it demonstrated a greater appetite to learn about the work of other teams/offices that was initially envisaged. Due to its success, the Chamber Desk intends to repeat the exercise in future.

Committees and Outreach Health and Sport Committee In the first week of recess the Health and Sport Committee published its report on access to new medicines. This followed long-standing involvement in the issue, stemming originally from a number of petitions, and widespread media

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coverage of the so-called “postcode lottery” in access to cancer and other rare conditions drug treatments. During the course of the Committee’s work, the Scottish Government established two reviews (of the operation of the Scottish Medicines Consortium and the Individual Patient Treatment Request system) and announced a rare medicines fund of £21m. The Committee consulted widely on the two review findings and made a number of alternative recommendations in its report. The Scottish Government had indicated that it would do no further work on the issue until the Committee had reported. The Scottish Government response is expected shortly and it is anticipated that there will be a wider parliamentary debate on the issue in due course. Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment During September and October the Committee will embark on a busy and varied work programme that includes scrutiny of The Crown Estate, the Scottish Government’s spending plans, agricultural rent reviews and the future of agricultural funding in Scotland. The Committee also hopes that Professor Walter Stahel, a leading thinker and pioneer on circular economy approaches (and who coined the phrase ‘cradle to cradle’) will give evidence to the Committee in October. The Committee is also meeting with the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee in the Scottish Parliament on 12 September. Welfare Reform Committee On 10 September the Committee held a “Your Say” evidence session with witnesses directly affected by the so-called ‘bedroom tax’, the initial session in examining this issue. Committee members also visited the Department of Work and Pensions Bathgate office and will for the first time this year examine the Scottish Government budget. Public Petitions Committee The Committee continues to deal with a number of petitions that have generated a good level of media interest, for example the petitions about religious observance in schools; a register of interests for members of the judiciary; chronic pain; and an opt-out system for organ donation. The Committee had a recent success with a petition asking that a national tree for Scotland be chosen. The Committee was able to close the petition on the basis that the Scottish Government announced its own consultation on designating a national tree for Scotland. The Committee will continue to gather evidence to inform its inquiry on child sexual exploitation before publishing its report at the end of the year. Equal Opportunities Committee The EOC has commenced oral evidence-taking after receiving around 1,200 written submissions on the Marriage and Civil Partnerships (Scotland) Bill. The first evidence session caught a wide range of media attention. Oral evidence on the Bill will continue through September and into October, with the Stage 1 report to be considered after budget scrutiny evidence sessions either side of the October recess.

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Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee The Committee has agreed to undertake an inquiry into the regulation of lobbying, following the Scottish Government’s announcement that it intends to develop legislative proposals in this area. The Committee’s intention is to report by Easter 2014. Parliament Days The third Parliament Day took place on Friday 21 June in Stirling. A civic reception was held at Forth Valley College’s new campus, attended by 165 people. A presentation by two local young carers was particularly well received. A programme of visits to local groups and organisations by Elaine Smith MSP, Deputy Presiding Officer, and Bruce Crawford MSP helped to reach the specific audiences from the Public Engagement Strategy. The Health and Sport Committee held engagement activities linked to their health inequalities inquiry. In the morning, the Committee made local visits then held a networking lunchtime event before their formal meeting in Stirling Council’s city chambers. A pilot of a regional “Communities Conference” was held on Saturday 22 June, attended by 93 delegates from the local voluntary sector. The event was very popular and well received. Feedback showed it was beneficial for attendees, who appreciated being able to learn in a local venue. The conference was measured against the Public Engagement Strategy KPI of “I have a good understanding of what the Scottish Parliament’s role is”. Sixty-nine delegates at the Communities Conference responded to this question; 95% Strongly Agreed or Agreed. Education sessions in English and Gaelic took place in local Primary schools; and links have been made with youth groups wishing to take part in peer education training sessions. There was local and social media coverage in the run up to and after the event as well as on the day. The highlight of the coverage was a double page feature in the Stirling Observer with images and a news piece based upon the DPO’s letter of thanks to Stirling. Almost 700 people visited our webpages on Parliament Day. On Twitter, tagging of the organisations that the DPO visited was particularly successful, with a number of re-tweets from those involved. UK and International Relations Office (UKIRO) Inward Delegations

The newly appointed Irish Consul General in Edinburgh, Mr Pat Bourne, made his first visit to the Parliament on Thursday 19 September. The Consul General paid a courtesy call on the Presiding Officer.

The Belgian Ambassador, His Excellency Mr Johan Verbeke, visited the Parliament on Tuesday 17 September. During this visit he paid a courtesy

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call on the Presiding Officer. He returned the following day to meet with the Convener of the European and External Relations Committee.

The Ambassador of Lithuania, Ms. Asta Skaisgiryte Liauskiene, will meet with the Presiding Officer on Thursday 3 October to discuss Lithuania’s priorities for their Presidency of the Council of the EU (which will run from July to December 2013). She will also give evidence on this subject at a meeting of the European and External Relations Committee.

British Irish Parliamentary Assembly (BIPA)

Deputy Presiding Officer, John Scott MSP, will lead a cross-party delegation of MSPs on BIPA to its bi-annual plenary. This will take place during the next parliamentary recess period from 21 to 23 October in Westminster.

Commonwealth Parliamentary Association

Patricia Ferguson MSP chaired the inaugural meeting of the British Islands and Mediterranean Region (BIMR) Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) Steering Group. Patricia was recently elected to be the BIMR representative on the CWP. The meeting, which took place in the House of Commons on 9 July, agreed the remit for the new Steering Group.

Maureen Watt MSP and Hugh Henry MSP attended the CPA Plenary conference, which took place from 28 August to 6 September, in Johannesburg, South Africa. Patricia Ferguson MSP also attended the conference in her capacity as the newly elected BIMR representative on the CWP. The theme for the conference was ‘Effective Solutions to Commonwealth Developmental Challenges’ and a range of workshops were scheduled to take place dealing with a wide range of public policy issues.

CPA Scotland Branch, in consultation with the Scottish Youth Parliament, have nominated Sian Hughes MSYP and David Linden MSYP to attend the 6th Commonwealth Youth Parliament, to be held in Hyderabad, India, from 20 to 26 October 2013.

Communications and Research Information Management and Governance The team submitted the first quarterly statistics required by the office of the Scottish Information Commissioner (OSIC) regarding the way we have replied to FOI requests covering the period 1 April and 30 June. The next quarterly statistics will cover the period 1 July to 30 September and will be sent to OSIC in October.

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Public Information and Publications

Complaints Handling Procedures The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman has confirmed that our procedures are compliant with the published model Complaints Handling Procedures. Public Information and Publications are now preparing the customer facing information and on arranging training for SPS staff. The complaints pages on the Scottish Parliament website will be updated next month.

Happy to Translate Training sessions on the Happy to Translate initiative were held in September for SPS staff. The Parliament scheme will be launched on the European Day of Languages on 26 September. MSPs and their staff interested in finding out how to use this in their local offices can contact Public Information and Publications on 0131 348 5000. SPICe

SPICe has been invited by the Finnish Committee for the Future to attend the annual meeting of the European Parliamentary Technology Assessment (EPTA) - which brings together units or operations who advise Parliaments on the possible social, economic and environmental impact of new sciences and technologies. EPTA are keen to understand more on SPICe work on climate change and sustainable development, and SPICe will also provide an update on the work of the Scottish Futures Forum.

We hosted a conference of finance/economics research specialists from across the UK, Ireland and Canada to share experiences, ideas and help build a stronger network of expertise.

SPICe will be running another training week for parliamentary staff in the February recess, inviting in expert speakers on a variety of relevant issue.

Facilities, Events, Exhibitions and Visitor Services Facilities Management

Fire Safety Training All occupants of the Scottish Parliament, including Members and their staff, will soon receive notification of this year’s fire safety training requirements, which comprises a revision of our Fire Evacuation Procedures, followed by a short test to confirm understanding. As part of the 5 year fire evacuation plan approved by Leadership Group, plans are currently underway for an evacuation exercise for zone 2 (garden lobby, QBH and ground floors of Towers 3 and 4). These exercises are important in evidencing our compliance with fire safety legislation but more so in testing our systems and procedures in a realistic environment to ensure

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they are fit for purpose. Such exercises also form part of fire safety training for all building occupants. A review of the Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan (PEEP) process is currently underway and will be launched in the coming months.

Environmental Performance During August we published the Environmental and Sustainability Report for the financial year 2012/2013. The report details the continued good progress that we are making to improve our environmental performance. We are making excellent headway towards our target to reduce carbon emissions by 42% by 2020 with a reduction of 25% reported for 2012/2013. In additional we are able to report reductions in the use of electricity and waste and an increasing recycling rate. The report also demonstrates how we continue to implement our responsible procurement strategy, engage building users, improve the bio-diversity of the grounds and maintained certification to ISO 14001:2004.

Maintenance Works completed during the summer recess include: hard standing in the MSP garden; installation of new roof access posts on the MSP building; and replacement of the Tower 4 window which was damaged due to high winds earlier this year. Timber louvre maintenance continues with the louvres on Tower 1 currently removed for refurbishment. Reinstatement is planned for the autumn. A number of works are currently being planned for the October recess including: maintenance and refurbishment in the crèche which will result in the crèche being closed during the recess period; cycle gate replacement and vehicle entry system (VES) maintenance; and changes to the operation of the MSP door to improved access from the garden lobby. Events and Exhibitions

World Press Photo Exhibition The world-renowned World Press Photo exhibition ran from Tuesday 30 July to Sunday 25 August, attracting 27,000 visitors. Again the Parliament was the first UK venue to display these winning press photography images, as well as being the only Parliament to host. During the period of the exhibition the Parliament Shop reported a modest income boost.

Festival of Politics The 9th Festival of Politics took place from Friday 23 to Sunday 25 August. The revised format of a shorter, sharper and more focused Festival was very successful. The addition of a Festival Café Bar provided a real festival feel and a space where people could continue with their discussions and debates or relax and enjoy the entertainment which was provided. Over the three days, 4,500 people attended festival sessions or visited the Festival Café Bar which represents a 50% increase on 2012’s attendance. Ticket sales were also up, with 88% of all tickets sold and a number of events

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sold out. A full report on the Festival of Politics will be presented to the SPCB in due course.

The Great Tapestry of Scotland The Great Tapestry of Scotland was unveiled to the public on Tuesday 3 September. The exhibition, the longest tapestry in the world at 143 metres, tells the history of Scotland from the ice age to the reconvening of the Parliament in 1999, over 420 million years of Scottish history in beautiful embroidery. A number of events have taken place to support the exhibition including a Stitcher’s Preview which was attend by more than 600 people who had helped to stich the tapestry; a Preview Reception hosted by the Presiding Officer; a public Lecture by artist Andrew Crummy; and a public talk given by Alexander McCall Smith. Visitor Services has reported an increased number of visitors and the Parliament Shop income has benefitted, recording sales in excess of £27,000 compared to £6,700 for the same period last year. The Tapestry has generated more positive feedback on our Facebook page than any other topic, with posts to date reaching nearly 9,000.

Scottish Food and Drink Federation The Deputy Presiding Officer John Scott MSP hosted a reception on Wednesday 11 September for Members and guests to celebrate the joint centenary of the Scottish Food and Drink Federation and the University of Aberdeen Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health. The event showcased the journeys of Scottish food and drink manufacturing companies between 1913 and 2013 and highlighted where research has greatly benefited the food industry. Forward Look

Andrew Carnegie Legacy Events and Exhibitions The “Andrew Carnegie International Legacy: Shaping the Future” festival of events will take place from Saturday 12 to Thursday 17 October with the majority of events being held in the Scottish Parliament. Highlights of the week include a lecture given by Eric Shiner, Director of the Andy Warhol Museum looking at Andy Warhol’s life and work titled Consumption x Production; a series of 6 public seminars debating many aspects of Andrew Carnegie’s legacy - ethics, world peace, science, education, libraries and philanthropy; a pre-Awards dinner co-hosted by the Presiding Officer and the First Minister; and the Andrew Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy Ceremony, held in the Debating Chamber. The “Andy Warhol: Pop, Power and Politics” exhibition will be on display in Committee Room 1 from Saturday 5 October until Sunday 3 November and will feature many artworks displayed in Scotland for the first time. It will include portraits of Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon, Mao, Lenin, Her Majesty The Queen, a portfolio about the assassination of John F. Kennedy and some works made in support of political and environmental campaigns. A special inclusion will be the portrait of Andrew Carnegie by Andy Warhol. The main

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lender is The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, with other loans from Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh and ARTIST ROOMS (National Galleries of Scotland and Tate). Pop Art Prints Workshops will sit alongside the exhibition offering weekend workshops - provided by members of the Fife Dunfermline Printmakers Workshop to members of the public giving an insight into Warhol’s technique of production. The Media Relations Office continues to promote the Andrew Carnegie Legacy events. It is estimated that work to promote the Warhol exhibition reached an audience in excess of 1.9 million people. Strong ticket uptake was a testament to the work of all the teams involved. The “Andrew Carnegie: The Legacy that changed the World” exhibition will run from Tuesday 15 October to Saturday 25 January. Exploring the wide international philanthropy of Scots-born philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, it will feature 30 loaned exhibits including from the Peace Palace at The Hague, British Library, Library of Congress, Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Sesame Workshop, Carnegie Hall Archives and others.

PoppyScotland On Wednesday 30 October the Presiding Officer will host a reception for veterans, Members and guests to launch PoppyScotland’s Annual Poppy Appeal. BIT and Broadcasting

Subtitling for First Minister’s Question Time As an innovative development of the Scottish Parliament’s You Tube Channel, staff from the Broadcasting Office have brought subtitling to the First Minister’s Question Time videos. The feature means that users of the You Tube Channel can read the text of the Official Report as subtitles whilst watching the video, significantly improving the accessibility. Although currently on trial, it is believed that this development is currently unique amongst UK legislatures and staff from the Broadcasting Office and the Official Report Office will continue to collaborate to ensure that the video of FMQs, complete with subtitling, is available by Friday mornings. The video without subtitling is currently available on Thursday afternoon and the Official Report of FMQs will remain available on our website by 2.30pm on Thursdays. A short presentation will be provided for the SPCB at its meeting on 9 October.

Technology Refresh As part of a routine technology refresh, the desktop computers used by Members and their staff in Holyrood will be replace during September. The new, faster, desktops will replace machines over four years old which have now fallen out of support.

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Case Management Pilot The Case Management Pilot has been running since September 2012. After a short period of customisation to fit Members’ needs, the hosted case management system first pilot users were trained and started using the system during December 2012. Since then, the rest of the pilot users have been trained and are now using the system to manage their casework. The pilot will run until the end of session four and an interim report will be produced in October for approval by the project board in early November. The interim report will cover findings to date and discuss funding options. Future updates on the pilot will be reported in the OPF.

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SECTION 2 – SPCB FINANCE REPORT

Period 4 – July 2013

1. This report is to inform SPCB of general financial activity and expenditure trends in 2013-14.

Executive Summary

Performance against Budget (year to date variance)

a) Total SPCB revenue and capital expenditure

Para 2 & 7

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 6

Key: RAG Status

99.6%

%

90.0%

7.8%

R

6.4%

Performance within target range

Performance outwith target range but acceptable

Performance outwith target range not acceptable

A

G

17.8%

14

Financial Commentary

2. The Scottish Parliament’s total revenue and capital expenditure for the financial year 2013-14 of £24.6m represents an under spend against budget of £1.7m (6.4%), which is outside the SPCB’s target range of 0% to 5.0% under budget at this stage of the financial year. The overall underspend is higher, in percentage and absolute terms, than the comparable position for 2012-13 of £1.1m (4.8%). 3. We incorporated an early reallocation of the SPCB’s approved 2013-14

budget within the period 2 figures to reflect known adjustments between the budget setting process in November 2012 and the start of the financial year. This freed up £90k to add to the SPCB’s central contingency.

4. Key reconciliations for the current year are up to date apart from the main

payroll control account which has been prepared up to period 2. We are in discussion with HR to move the lead responsibility for this reconciliation to Finance. Audit Scotland have commenced their audit of the SPCB’s 2012-13 annual accounts.

5. The Finance Office has been liaising closely with the Scottish Government

(SG) since the upgrade of SEAS in April 2012. A log of issues has been maintained and good progress has been made recently in resolution of key items. Steps are in hand to address the remaining items. The critical item outstanding from the original upgrade relates to VAT reporting. This issue is now believed to be resolved and will be formally closed once final user testing has been completed. Opportunities for further development will be investigated with the SG in 2013-14 and a separate log of 2013-14 issues is being maintained to monitor progress once action has been agreed with the SG.

Original

upgrade

April 2012

New issues

logged this

year

Total

Issues logged 75 5 80

Remaining issues at period 4 5 4 9

Prioritisation:

High 1 1 2

Medium 4 3 7

6. Payment performance within contract terms exceeds the 99% target for the year to date and the equivalent figure for payment within 10 days is 90.4%.

15

Financial Results

7. The SPCB’s total revenue and capital expenditure per Schedule 1 for the four months ended July 2013 is £24.6m, which is £1.7m (6.4%) under the approved budget of £26.2m.

Parliamentary Service Costs (Schedule 2)

8. The cumulative expenditure for the Parliamentary Service (SPS), at £14.3m, is £1.2m (7.8%) under budget. This incorporates both capital and revenue projects. The previous year’s expenditure of £11.7m at period 4 was £0.7m (6.0%) below budget. An analysis of the current financial year by main category of expenditure is shown in the two charts below.

16

Staff pay is £213k (2.9%) under budget. The staff cost underspend is spread across all groups with the largest staff underspends being in Communication and Research (£61k), Committee & Outreach (£47k), and Financial Resources Group (£35k).

Staff Related costs of £133k are reported as £88k (39.8%) below budget, with Travel and Expenses accounting for £50k and Training for £26k. The reported underspend is partly attributable to a delay in processing corporate credit card transactions, which will reduce during the year as we fully implement the more streamlined processing arrangements for the new corporate card. £40k was moved from Job Related Training budgets to contingency during period 2.

Property costs of £2.5m are £94k (3.6%) under the Year To Date budget – principally (£40k) in utilities and (£27k) in maintenance costs.

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Running costs of £1.8m are £245k (11.8%) under budget. Main running cost underspends are against Printing (£64k), Restaurant Services (£40k) and Advertising (£51k). The reported £70k variance against Mail Services and Postage is due to a timing difference in processing the monthly stock change figures and will be corrected next month.

Project Reporting (Schedule 3): 9. Schedule 3 shows project spend by category of project.

Revenue Projects show a total spend of £108k against the year to date budget of £350k. The reported underspend of £242k (69%) was as a result of fewer revenue change requests taking place than budgeted and purchase orders for those approved and completed not being put on the system by the last working day of July, but we expect this to rectify itself by the end of the summer recess.

The capital expenditure programme for 2013-14 has seen expenditure to date of £2.54m against the year to date budget of £2.87m, an underspend of £332k or 11.5%. Expenditure of £2.44m in respect of the ESF construction in the first four months of 2013-14 takes the total ESF expenditure up to £5.2m. The project remains on track for the new entrance to be completed during summer 2013 and new exit during autumn 2013 - all within budget.

Overall, 58.9% of the total allocated annual project budget has been spent and a further 24.2% committed by the end of July 2013. Members’ Costs (Schedule 2) 10. Members’ costs are analysed in Schedule 2, which shows £7.7m reported cost to July 2013, £435k (5.3%) below the phased budget. (The corresponding underspend figures for 2012-13 at the end of period 4 were

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£246k, 3.2%). Of this underspend, £395k (9.0%) is on Members’ Expenses. Party Assistance at £131k is reported as £20k under the phased budget. Commissioners and Ombudsman Costs (Schedule 2) 11. The SPCB’s funding cost for Commissioners and Ombudsman (Officeholders) for the year to date amounts to £2.5m, which is £28k (1.1%) below the phased budget, (2012-13 figures as at July 2012 were an underspend of £104k or 4.0%), principally in respect of the Scottish Information Commissioner (£18k).

Central Contingency 12. The SPCB’s central revenue contingency remains at £590k following the increases in period 2. This was as a result of reducing the rates budget by £60k (as the actual rates bill for 2013/14 was less than budgeted), the Job Related Training budget across 14 offices was reduced by £40k to help fund the Agility Framework and £10k was allocated to Committee Office to take forward the proposals for Members’ CPD.

Commitment

13. The amount committed across the Parliamentary Service (including projects) stood at £38.1m or 91% of total annual PS budget.

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1

SPCB FINANCE REPORT Period 4 – July 2013

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

trends in 2013-14.

Executive Summary

Performance against Budget (year to date variance)

a) Total SPCB revenue and capital expenditure

Para 2 & 7

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 6

Key: RAG Status

Financial Commentary

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

financial year 2013-14 of £24.6m represents an under spend against budget of £1.7m (6.4%), which is outside the SPCB’s target range of 0% to 5.0% under budget at this stage of the financial year. The overall underspend is higher, in percentage and absolute terms, than the comparable position for 2012-13 of £1.1m (4.8%).

3. We incorporated an early reallocation of the SPCB’s approved 2013-14 budget within the period 2 figures to reflect known adjustments between the budget setting process in November 2012 and the start of the financial year. This freed up £90k to add to the SPCB’s central contingency.

4. Key reconciliations for the current year are up to date apart from the main

payroll control account which has been prepared up to period 2. We are in discussion with HR to move the lead responsibility for this reconciliation to Finance. Audit Scotland have commenced their audit of the SPCB’s 2012-13 annual accounts.

99.6%

%

90.0%

7.8%

R

6.4%

Performance within target range

Performance outwith target range but acceptable

Performance outwith target range not acceptable

A

G

17.8%

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2

5. The Finance Office has been liaising closely with the Scottish Government (SG) since the upgrade of SEAS in April 2012. A log of issues has been maintained and good progress has been made recently in resolution of key items. Steps are in hand to address the remaining items. The critical item outstanding from the original upgrade relates to VAT reporting. This issue is now believed to be resolved and will be formally closed once final user testing has been completed. Opportunities for further development will be investigated with the SG in 2013-14 and a separate log of 2013-14 issues is being maintained to monitor progress once action has been agreed with the SG.

Original upgrade April 2012

New issues logged this year

Total

Issues logged 75 5 80

Remaining issues at period 4 5 4 9

Prioritisation:

High 1 1 2

Medium 4 3 7

6. Payment performance within contract terms exceeds the 99% target for the year to date and the equivalent figure for payment within 10 days is 90.4%.

Financial Results 7. The SPCB’s total revenue and capital expenditure per Schedule 1 for the four

months ended July 2013 is £24.6m, which is £1.7m (6.4%) under the approved budget of £26.2m.

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3

Parliamentary Service Costs (Schedule 2)

8. The cumulative expenditure for the Parliamentary Service (SPS), at £14.3m, is £1.2m (7.8%) under budget. This incorporates both capital and revenue projects. The previous year’s expenditure of £11.7m at period 4 was £0.7m (6.0%) below budget. An analysis of the current financial year by main category of expenditure is shown in the two charts below.

6.2 6.5 6.4

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

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

%-a

ge

Trend of Cumulative Total Underspend

13/14 12/13 11/12

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4

Staff pay is £213k (2.9%) under budget. The staff cost underspend is spread across all groups with the largest staff underspends being in Communication & Research (£61k), Committee & Outreach (£47k), and Financial Resources Group (£35k).

Staff Related costs of £133k are reported as £88k (39.8%) below budget, with Travel & Expenses accounting for £50k and Training for £26k. The reported underspend is partly attributable to a delay in processing corporate credit card transactions, which will reduce during the year as we fully implement the more streamlined processing arrangements for the new corporate card. £40k was moved from Job Related Training budgets to contingency during period 2.

Property costs of £2.5m are £94k (3.6%) under the Year To Date budget – principally (£40k) in utilities and (£27k) in maintenance costs.

7,173

133

2,532

1,826

7,386

221

2,626

2,071

6,923

83

2,468

1,885

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

8,000

Total Staff Pay Total Staff RelatedCosts

Total PropertyCosts

Total RunningCosts

£'0

00

Expense

Parliamentary Services (Excluding Projects) YTD Expenditure £k

Actual 13/14 Budget 13/14 Actual 12/13

574

245

94

88

213

0100200300400500600

Projects

Running Costs

Property Costs

Staff Related Costs

Staff Pay

Underspend £k

Parliamentary Service YTD Under & Overspends £ k

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Running costs of £1.8m are £245k (11.8%) under budget. Main running cost underspends are against Printing (£64k), Restaurant Services (£40k) and Advertising (£51k). The reported £70k variance against Mail Services & Postage is due to a timing difference in processing the monthly stock change figures and will be corrected next month.

Project Reporting (Schedule 3):

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

Revenue Projects show a total spend of £108k against the year to date budget of £350k. The reported underspend of £242k (69%) was as a result of fewer revenue change requests taking place than budgeted and purchase orders for those approved and completed not being put on the system by the last working day of July, but we expect this to rectify itself by the end of the summer recess.

The capital expenditure programme for 2013-14 has seen expenditure to date of £2.54m against the year to date budget of £2.87m, an underspend of £332k or 11.5%. Expenditure of £2.44m in respect of the ESF construction in the first four months of 2013-14 takes the total ESF expenditure up to £5.2m. The project remains on track for the new entrance to be completed during summer 2013 and new exit during autumn 2013 - all within budget.

Overall, 58.9% of the total allocated annual project budget has been spent and a further 24.2% committed by the end of July 2013.

64

51

50

46

40

26

(31)

(70)

Printing

Advertising

Travel & Expenses

Restaurant Services

Utilities

Training

IT Contract

Mail Services & Postage

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

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6

Members’ Costs (Schedule 2)

10. Members’ costs are analysed in Schedule 2, which shows £7.7m reported cost to July 2013, £435k (5.3%) below the phased budget. (The corresponding underspend figures for 2012-13 at the end of period 4 were £246k, 3.2%). Of this underspend, £395k (9.0%) is on Members’ Expenses. Party Assistance at £131k is reported as £20k under the phased budget.

Commissioners & Ombudsman Costs (Schedule 2)

11. The SPCB’s funding cost for Commissioners and Ombudsman (Officeholders) for the year to date amounts to £2.5m, which is £28k (1.1%) below the phased budget, (2012-13 figures as at July 2012 were an underspend of £104k or 4.0%), principally in respect of the Scottish Information Commissioner (£18k).

Central Contingency

12. The SPCB’s central revenue contingency remains at £590k following the increases in period 2. This was as a result of reducing the rates budget by £60k (as the actual rates bill for 2013/14 was less than budgeted), the Job Related Training budget across 14 offices was reduced by £40k to help fund the Agility Framework and £10k was allocated to Committee Office to take forward the proposals for Members’ CPD.

Commitment

13. The amount committed across the Parliamentary Service (including projects) stood at £38.1m or 91% of total annual PS budget.

Actual Spend, £14.3m, 34%

Outstanding Commitment, £23.8m, 57%

Uncommitted, £3.8m, 9%

PS Committed Funds as at July 2013 : £m,%

Period 4

July 2013 Financial Schedules

Schedule 1

Current Original

Annual Approved

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

Parliamentary Service Costs (Schedule 2) 14,314 15,528 1,214 7.8 41,988 42,078

Members' Costs (Schedule 2) 7,728 8,162 435 5.3 24,511 24,511

Commissioners & Ombudsman Costs (Schedule 2) 2,516 2,543 28 1.1 8,059 8,059

Sub Total 24,557 26,233 1,676 6.4 74,558 74,648

Reserves - SPCB Contingency 0 0 0 n/a 590 500

TOTAL EXPENDITURE 24,557 26,233 1,676 6.4 75,148 75,148

Year to Date

Period 4

July 2013 Financial Schedules

Schedule 2

Current Original

Annual Approved

Actual Budget Variance Variance Budget Budget

£'000 £'000 £'000 % £'000 £'000

Parliamentary Service Costs

Staff Pay 7,173 7,386 213 2.9 21,977 21,977

Staff Related Costs 133 221 88 39.8 778 808

Property Costs 2,532 2,626 94 3.6 7,935 7,995

Running Costs (Including Events & Income) 1,826 2,071 245 11.8 6,798 6,798

Parliamentary Service Costs excluding Projects 11,665 12,304 640 5.2 37,488 37,578

Projects (Schedule 3) 2,650 3,223 574 17.8 4,500 4,500

Total PS Expenditure 14,314 15,528 1,214 7.8 41,988 42,078

Members' Costs

MSP & Officeholders' Pay 3,711 3,750 39 1.0 11,250 11,250

MSP Expenses 3,886 4,261 375 8.8 12,806 12,806

Party Assistance 131 152 20 13.5 455 455

Total 7,728 8,162 435 5.3 24,511 24,511

Commissioners & Ombudsman

Ethical Standards Commission 220 226 6 2.8 797 797

Standards Commission 76 83 7 8.4 226 226

Human Rights Commission 307 317 9 2.9 909 909

Scottish Information Commissioner 449 466 18 3.8 1,394 1,394

Public Services Ombudsman 1,048 1,032 (16) (1.5) 3,207 3,207

Commissioner for Children 416 419 3 0.8 1,226 1,226

Reserves - C&O Contingency 0 0 0 n/a 300 300

Total 2,516 2,543 28 1.1 8,059 8,059

Year-to-date

Period 4

July 2013 Financial Schedules

Schedule 3

Project Summary : July 2013 YTD Actual £k YTD Budget £k Variance £k Variance % Current Annual

Budget £k

Original Approved

Budget £k

% Spent of

Total Budget

Outstanding

Commitment £k

Funds Available

£k

Revenue Projects

Allocated 108 350 242 69.2 600 600 17.9% 176 317

Unallocated 0 0 0 0.0 900 900 0.0% 0 900

Total Revenue Projects 108 350 242 69.2 1,500 1,500 7.2% 176 1,217

Capital Projects

Allocated 2,542 2,873 332 11.5 3,000 3,000 84.7% 924 (466)

Unallocated 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0% 0 0

Total Capital Projects 2,542 2,873 332 11.5 3,000 3,000 84.7% 924 (466)

TOTAL 2,650 3,223 574 17.8 4,500 4,500 58.9% 1,099 751

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

Funds Available

£k

IT 103 0 (103) n/a 0 0 n/a 6 (109)

FM Building & Equipment 99 350 251 71.6 600 600 16.6% 167 334

Engagement (1) 0 1 n/a 0 0 n/a 0 1

ESF Capital Construction 2,439 2,873 435 15.1 3,000 3,000 81.3% 918 (357)

Information Management 9 0 (9) n/a 0 0 n/a 9 (17)

Artwork / Other 0 0 0 n/a 0 0 n/a 0 0

Total Projects Allocated 2,650 3,223 574 17.8 3,600 3,600 73.6% 1,099 (149)

Unallocated Project Budget 0 0 0 0.0 900 900 0.0% 0 900

TOTAL 2,650 3,223 574 17.8 4,500 4,500 58.9% 1,099 751

Parliamentary Business

100% parliamentary business takes place as scheduled

Organisational Performance Framework

2013-14: Quarter 1

Cover Page

The Parliamentary Service

% Outturn against SPCB budget for financial year within

target range of 0 - 5% under SPCB budget

Efficiency targets delivered as planned

Strategic activities on track

Compliance monitoring report on track

Planned Strategic Risk Management activities on schedule

Public Engagement

Operational Public Engagement KPIs are on target:

participation, openness, reaching out and understanding

This

Quarter

This

Year

Members Feedback

Number of interviews conducted

Trend

14 14

N/a

1

üü

99.9%* 99.9%

Note: * Committee business was disrupted on 17 April 2013 due to a power failure in the Edinburgh area

(outwith Scottish Parliamentary Service control) affecting 2 Committees. Although the power failure

lasted 40 minutes, business was temporarily suspected for only 6 minutes in total (4 minutes in 1

committee, 2 in the other) whilst onsite contingency arrangements took effect.

Increase/No Change/DecreaseKey: RAG Status

On Track (Yes/No)

A G

ü û

R

ü ü

6.5%

ü ü

ü ü

N/a

ü ü

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Quarter 2 Quarter 32012-13

Quarter 4 Quarter 12013-14

1

6 6 6

5

8 9 118

Parliamentary Role

Very Satisfied

Satisfied

Dissatisfied

Very Dissatisfied

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Quarter 2 Quarter 32012-13

Quarter 4 Quarter 12013-14

1 1

79 8

9

76

8

4

Constituency Role

Very Satisfied

Satisfied

Dissatisfied

Very Dissatisfied

Parliamentary Business

Support Parliament in

implementation of

parliamentary reform

Support committees to

implement Conveners

Group Programme for

Change

Effective response to

changes in Parliament’s

powers

Effectively manage the

construction,

commissioning and

handover of the External

Security Facility (ESF)

The Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee is

currently conducting a review of the changes to parliamentary

sitting patterns and use of time in the Chamber and hopes to report

after the summer recess. The Conveners Group continues to look

at the effectiveness of committees. Overall, the project remains on

track.

Quarterly reports will be produced for the Conveners Group,

providing examples of best practice and lessons learned on

committee reforms (including evaluation of media coverage). The

first such report will be considered when the Group meets in

September 2013.

Committees continue to work with outreach in relation to Parliament

Days, external meetings and fact-finding visits and events. A

working group was set up in February 2013 to look at how to build

on and improve outreach work and it is intended that an initial

report will be discussed by officials over the summer recess.

Following agreement from the Conveners Group, work will be taken

forward over the summer recess in conjunction with BIT and APS

to make interim improvements to the Committee Report template. A

further improved version will be presented to the Conveners Group

in October 2013 with implementation as soon as possible

thereafter. Further development work will be undertaken to make

more radical changes in the longer term, designed to fit in with the

Digital Parliament programme.

Work is on-going in monitoring and considering developing

constitutional issues. The position was reported to LG in June

2013. SPCB will be advised as to on-going work at the end of

September 2013.

Robust project monitoring regimes are in place, taking into account

both construction performance and the impact of the works on the

organisation from the perspectives of safety and potential

disruption. Spend to date is £4.91m with forecast estimated project

costs of £6.48m against the total budgeted costs of £6.48m. The

ESF remains on course to be operational by the end of summer

2013.

2

Strategic Activity Status Action Update

Organisational Performance Framework

2013-14: Quarter 1

Plans and Strategies

G

G

G

G

Organisational Performance Framework

2013-14: Quarter 1

Plans and Strategies

Strategic Activity Status Action Update

Members

Develop and deliver a

Member focused IT

Strategy

Ensure services continue

to enable and support

Members effectively

Deliver a digital

Parliament

Major milestones achieved in this reporting period include

completion of WiFi rollout at Holyrood, all pilot users now using the

Case Management solution, start of deployment of mobile devices

within SPS, definition of proof of concept for Broadband

Acceleration and completion of several workshops to develop the

new IT strategy. All projects remain within allocated budget at this

time.

The number of interviews conducted was slightly lower than in the

previous quarter as a result of Members’ business commitments

and priorities in the run up to summer recess. Overall, Members’

feedback ratings have remained consistent to the previous 3

quarters, with almost all Members interviewed either very satisfied

or satisfied with the provision of support to allow them to fulfil their

parliamentary and constituency roles. As in previous quarters, more

Members are very satisfied with parliamentary support (8 out of 14)

than with constituency, where 4 out of 14 were “very satisfied”. The

first dissatisfied rating was provided in terms of parliamentary

support, the reasons have been passed to the relevant offices to

address. We shall continue to monitor the results and any emerging

trends but, for the moment, there is no information to suggest that

we need to instigate a specific improvement programme.

The Continuous Professional Development (CPD) programme for

Members is still at green following another positive quarter. This

included the successful running of the first in-house courses under

the CPD banner, covering a range of different aspects of

parliamentary business, such as the scrutiny of legislation and the

code of conduct, as well as a session by the Police Unit on MSPs’

security. Members from all five parties attended at least one of the

sessions and the vast majority of feedback was extremely positive.

Members’ comments also raised some practical issues such as the

timing of sessions which will be of help in the development of future

courses. Autumn 2013 will see the running of externally-led

courses. The sessions will each be run on a party group basis on

Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. Feedback will again be

requested from Members so that the content and administration of

each course can be refined for future work.

LG were presented with the Digital Parliament Programme

Proposal on 26 June 2013 where the vision, objectives and

programme approach were discussed and agreed. A Business

Case is to be presented to LG in September 2013.

3

G

G

G

Strategic Activity

4

Public

Implement the

engagement strategy Implement Parliament Days in local communities - The third

Parliament Day took place in Stirling on 21 June 2013 with the

Health and Sport Committee’s external meeting on health

inequalities as its focus. As part of the Parliament Day, the pilot

Communities Conference was held at Forth Valley College on 22

June 2013. Over 80 people attended; 90% strongly agreed or

agreed that they had a better understanding of the Parliament’s

role as a result of the event.

Develop a web and social media plan to promote Parliament online

– The plan is now in place and analysis completed on the

effectiveness of social media during the 2012-13 parliamentary

year. Work will commence in the summer recess on refreshing the

current plan by October 2013.

Develop a Public Information plan – Since the Public Engagement

Board agreed the remit and scope in April 2013, completed

activities include inventory/analysis of current output and

audiences; desk research on approach of external organisations;

discussion with Scottish Parliament offices and internal customers;

identification of dialogue with comparable organisations and

potential partners. Over summer, planning next steps on how to

receive feedback from the public to inform the plan. Focus groups

will take place in early August and a report will be completed late

August 2013.

Open up parliamentary data for others to use - The Open Data

group continues to meet and to gather expert knowledge from

other organisations including NI Assembly, Edinburgh City Council,

Edinburgh University and the Open Knowledge Foundation. A

paper on Open Data is due to be presented to the Information

Management Board in October 2013.

Make parliamentary footage, videos and other information

available - In June 2013, the Business IT Office successfully

launched the facility for Members to embed an automatic feed of

their latest parliamentary contributions on their own websites. The

facility enables Members to display the last 10 speeches, votes,

motions and question on any page of their website, taking

information dynamically from Parliament databases, and displaying

it with appropriate corporate branding. This facility reuses

parliamentary information efficiently and encourages visitors to the

Parliament website through links in the content displayed.

Action UpdateStatus

Organisational Performance Framework

2013-14: Quarter 1

Plans and Strategies

G

A

A

G

G

Action UpdateStatus

Organisational Performance Framework

2013-14: Quarter 1

Plans and Strategies

Strategic Activity

The Parliamentary

Service

Develop and deliver

learning and development

to support strategy

Maximise innovation and

continuous improvement

Implement the information

management strategy

Develop and deliver

organisational agility

Develop proposals for

income generation

A review of learning and development priorities and resources was

discussed and agreed by LG on 22 April 2013. This is one of the

Agility Framework strands, to support our capacity to respond to

changing business needs. A further short paper will be produced

for the LG meeting in August 2013. The RAG status is amber due

to slippage in timeframe.

The strategic plan for 2013-14 was updated and approved by the

SPCB on 5 June 2013, offices have been invited to refresh their

existing 2013-14 Office Plans by 31 July 2013. Therefore, data

gathering from these plans has been delayed. The data will be

analysed to inform of innovation and continuous improvement

activities by October 2013. Thereafter, new targets will be set for

innovation and improvement within the organisation.

A corporate project already associated with this strategic activity is

Secondary Financial Systems. On 20 May 2013, LG approved the

PID and agreed to conduct a pilot of the Secondary Financial

Systems template. The outcomes of the pilot will be presented to

LG in October 2013.

A paper on the Information Management Programme was

presented to LG on 26 June 2013 which reported progress to date.

A future blueprint with anticipated benefits has been identified. This

in turn has allowed more detail to be developed around a timeline

and project structure. A proposed governance structure has also

been agreed by the Programme Board. LG approved a budget,

within the current year, to progress work on the completion of a

Business Case. This will be presented to LG in September 2013.

In the second tranche of the Agility Framework project, LG agreed

on 22 April 2013 its approach to workforce planning (using an

organisation-wide skills matrix); a revised policy on professional

and career development (including changes to the PDP process)

and agreed its priorities for learning and development, with explicit

resourcing being given to support workforce planning.

In June LG discussed the background and current context of the

development of income generation initiatives. To date, effort has

concentrated on creating opportunities to reduce catering and retail

subsidies. A Project Manager was appointed in May 2013 to enable

the project to progress particularly focusing on realising the

potential in utilising the Members’ Restaurant as an events venue.

Market research and analysis of appropriate use will form firm

proposals to be reported to LG in October and the SPCB in

November 2013.

The SPCB approved the relocation of the Parliament Shop to a

more suitable location aiming to eliminate the subsidy and make a

modest cash surplus. The relocation is scheduled for October

2013.

G

5