Scottish Executive under fire from audit watchdog
Achievements hard to measure, says audit watchdog
Spending watchdog Audit Scotland has criticized the way the Scottish
Executive, measures its economic achievements.
Audit Scotland said the development agency used inadequate data and poor
evaluation to make its assessments and cast doubt over the agency’s previous
performance claims.
Auditor general Robert Black said that while he accepted that measuring the
impact of any economic development agency was hard to quantify, the way the
Scottish Enterprise evaluated its projects was not backed up with factual
evidence and in many cases other options had not been fully considered.
Black said: ‘It remains difficult to assess well the contribution that the
agency makes to Scotland’s economy and to the objectives of a smart, successful
Scotland.’
