“Catalog of the failures” led to an output scandal near Scotland's water guard

A “catalog of failures” is the fault for the “inappropriate and unacceptable” use of public funds at Scotland's Water Watchdog, as a report has determined.

The water industry commission for Scotland is said to have wasted public funds, “not in their responsibility” – which leads to a lack of financial control, did not follow its own rules and left MSPs with “deep concerns”.

The Public Audit Committee of the Scottish Parliament also found “significant weaknesses and failures in the Scottish government's approach” for the management of the waking dog.

The results come from the recent report of the committee into the finances of the water industry for Scotland (WICS) on Friday.

The “inappropriate and unacceptable” expenditure of the board for training courses for senior employees, advantages of the workforce and hospitality have already been widespread.

The report, however, states that the Scottish government also “a complete failure of the Scottish government to have the culture of WICS”, which led to the unacceptable use of public funds.

When the report of the report spoke, the Convener MSP Richard Leonard, the convener of the examination board, described the evidence that he heard “simply extraordinary” about the agreements at WICS.

“That the body commissioned to promote the long -term value of Scottish water for its customers even the standards that are necessary for a public body are not relaxed with deep concerns,” said Leonard.

“But the committee is clear that there was apparently a serious lack of supervision by the Scottish government. This failure of those who are supposed to protect the public handbag is simply unacceptable.”

The report on Friday is the latest in a number of studies to find out what went wrong and how it can prevent failures in the future.

The committee has now asked the Scottish government to check its systems to identify concerns with public institutions to ensure that problems are captured at an early stage.

High-end meals, gift cards and luxury purchases

The water guard was first examined in 2023 after an examination report Scotland found evidence of “inappropriate expenses”.

This original report showed that almost £ 75,000 WICS editions did not correspond to public expenditure rules and 20,000 GBP did not value money.

In particular, the report showed that the former managing director of WICS had a cost claims for a Maulbeer letter bag of 170 GBP, which was approved on the board during his time.

Alan Sutherland also set glasses, which cost 290 GBP for his expenses, under a series of “mass claims”, which apparently seemed to have been approved without proper supervision.

Further investigations later revealed that Mr. Sutherland had claimed a high-end restaurant dinner of 400 GBP on a bureaucial editor.

He resigned from the board within a few hours after the publication of an examination report in Scotland.

Mr. Sutherland's departure cost the public wallet £ 105,488, since he was paid for six months and incurred the legal costs.

WICS also spent more than £ 77,000 for a course for a manager at the Harvard Business School in the USA. Further £ 2,600 were provided for each employee a gift card of 100 GBP for Christmas.

The report recognized that the departures of WICS and in fact have given the Scottish government to widespread board and management waste since the first examination reports were published in 2023.

The committee also confirmed that no further expenses were found between January and March 2024, but they said that “this must be kept under close examination”.

Nevertheless, the examination committee asked the current WICS board to undergo a Refresher training towards its roles and responsibilities in order to ensure that the failure of responsibilities does not take place again.

The Scottish government also called for its systems to determine concerns with public bodies to ensure that all problems are recorded in an early stage.

“We have heard of significant changes within WICs and the commitment of the organization to improve governance agreements. These are clearly welcome. But we would like to see concrete evidence of these changes to ensure that the unacceptable culture that is really disappeared,” said Leonard.