Member

It is welcome that the Minister, Sarah Jones, told the SLSC in response to the committee’s inquiries that she would straightaway get the Permanent Secretary to find out whether similar problems to the one behind the criminal justice SI are occurring elsewhere in the department, but I note that this action to check whether there are other problems has started only because the SLSC asked. This is important, but it is also important that action should have been taken as soon as the problem came to light. Surely a well-functioning department, with Ministers and senior civil servants who are on the ball, would see this SI coming through the system and ask what checks they have made to see whether there is a more widespread problem, rather than wait for a parliamentary committee to ask. I hope the Minister can tell us what action has been taken now to ensure that staff involved in these mistakes are aware of and can learn from their role in them. In future, will the department be more proactive in seeking out whether identified problems are more widespread, rather than waiting for a parliamentary committee to ask?