Troubles With Governance At The Governing Body For Gaelic

18th December 2019

Bòrd na Gàidhlig has had a poor report on governance as set out in the annual Audit report published by the Audit Scotland.

Significant improvements required at Bòrd na Gàidhlig

The public body for promoting Gaelic must address a range of concerns from a lack of openness to

poor relationships and organisational culture.

A report from the Auditor General highlights a wide range of issues raised by the external auditor over the last year. Issues identified included:

• ineffective leadership

• inadequate workforce planning

• a lack of clarity over roles and responsibilities

• poor relationships and organisational culture

• a lack of transparency in decision-making.

Bòrd na Gàidhlig is based in Inverness and employs around 19 staff. In 2018/19 it had a net expenditure of £5.3 million.

Caroline Gardner, Auditor General for Scotland, said: "Gaelic is an important part of Scotland's culture.

"But all public bodies, irrespective of their size, must demonstrate clear and effective governance and make key decisions in an open and transparent way.

"The Bòrd's leadership team and board must deliver significant improvements in the issues raised to establish the trust and confidence of staff and stakeholders, including the Parliament and the public."

Under Governance and Transparency the report conclusions are -

Overall conclusions

Improvements in the reporting and communication of progress against the vision, both internally and externally, are needed. There is significant room for improvement with regards to meaningful

engagement with staff on the direction of the organisation. Improvements in organisational cohesiveness, a collective endeavour to drive progress against the vision and achieve the

objectives of the organisation are required.

There is substantial development required in the leadership of BnaG, particularly in relation to clarity, consistency and capacity of leadership. While training has been provided to the SMT, a formal review to identify training needs of the SMT needs to be carried out. The SMT needs to improve their skills and competencies in relation to change management and organisational change, in order to respond to the issues facing the organisation.

There needs to be considerable changes in BnaG's attitude in relation to openness and a clear focus on transparency. There is general consensus that the existing Committee structure and

governance arrangements are not fit for purpose. In order to address these issues and ensure they do not recur, the Board needs to establish a programme for reflecting on its own

performance and of the performance of the Committees in the organisation, in addition to assessing the performance of management.

BnaG needs to address the lack of clarity on the roles and responsibilities of Board members, the SMT and the Sponsor Division. This is important to ensure the effectiveness of governance, decision-making and scrutiny. The Board needs to institute clear procedures for compliance with, and monitoring of, its Code of Conduct and Standing Orders, given the breaches of these key governance documents identified through our work.

Following recommendations made in our 2016/17 and 2017/18 annual audit reports, we are pleased to note that improvements have been made to BnaG's management of risk. However,

there remain areas for improvement, particularly in relation to financial matters. In addition, there is concern that BnaG is not able to assess the severity of the risks and appropriately prioritise

actions.

Board members and officers in general observe high standards of conduct and behaviour. The CEO is to be commended for her dedication to the organisation. However, there are several instances

where standards of behaviour have fallen below acceptable levels with insufficient action to address these taken by the SMT or the Board itself. Such issues need to be dealt with appropriately to ensure that they do not recur.

Each of the above points were considered as part of our interim report, accepted by the Committee and management have agreed an improvement plan to address these areas.

Read the full report HERE

[url=https://www.gaidhlig.scot/]Bòrd na Gàidhlig[/url]