This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Executive response to Fraser Inquiry
15/09/2004
The Executive will ensure that there is no repeat of the kind of problems which have beset the Holyrood project, First Minister Jack McConnell vowed today.
The Executive has accepted all the recommendations directed at it by the final report of Lord Fraser's Inquiry.
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The FM and Presiding Officer George Reid commissioned the inquiry to provide a public record of the decisions and actions that led to the rising costs and delay of the new Parliament building and to ensure any mistakes would not be repeated.
Mr McConnell said:
"I said when I announced this inquiry that the Holyrood building project, more than any other issue, overshadows the many real achievements of this young Parliament.
"I want to thank Lord Fraser for his full report and the recommendations contained in it. It is clear there were faults both pre and post devolution.
"I support the recommendations and will implement those that apply to the Scottish Executive as soon as possible.
"Our ambition is to have a civil service in Scotland that is the best in the UK and beyond. A civil service that has the best people, the best skills and the best practices.
"While we have made many improvements to the Scottish civil service since 1999, it is now the task of those charged with taking devolution forward to improve further and modernise faster. Lord Fraser's report strengthens my resolve to make that happen."
The Executive's Permanent Secretary John Elvidge said:
"Lord Fraser has confirmed previous findings by the Auditor General that there were points in the process at which civil servants fell short of the standards which we expect of ourselves and which Ministers and the public are entitled to expect of us.
"Since the post-devolution Scottish Executive replaced the pre-devolution Scottish Office much has changed. We are a very different organisation now.
"Many of the people are different, we have different ways of working and, above all, a changing culture adapted to the needs of post-devolution Scotland.
"We have a duty to ensure that we are an outward-looking organisation which reflects the priorities and values of the people we serve and that every pound of public money is spent wisely.
"We have acted on the Auditor General's earlier findings and we shall learn any further lessons which we can take from the Fraser report. We shall press on with developing and changing, learning from past mistakes is an important part of that."
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