WICS finance scrutiny continues

The Scottish Parliament’s Public Audit Committee (PAC) last week published the Water Industry Commission for Scotland’s response to its June questions on financial and governance matters falling out of Audit Scotland’s scrutiny of the regulator’s 2022/23 audit. This follows publication of responses from the Scottish Government and Audit Scotland to PAC questions on related matters.

Among the matters covered in the WICS and Scottish Government letters to the PAC was the departure arrangements of WICS’ former chief executive Alan Sutherland, including his pay settlement, Scottish Government approval of this, and its handling as a ‘settlement agreement’ as described in the Scottish Public Finance Manual (SPFM). Roy Brannen, director general, net zero, said in his reply that WICS did not initially comply with SPFM process, but that a business case was retrospectively submitted.

Elsewhere in his reply, Brannen confirmed that the Scottish Government is undertaking two linked but separate reviews to support WICS improvement: an independent review of WICS, considering the regulator’s internal policies, processes and culture; and an internal review to consider the Scottish Government’s own sponsorship oversight and governance controls in relation to WICS, to ensure that lessons are learnt from the experience.

Reports on both reviews are due to be published in late summer.