Scottish Canals’ struggle to value its assets meant auditors did not have enough reliable evidence to provide assurance over the public body’s finances.

South Lanarkshire College has addressed weaknesses in how it is governed but has spent around £800,000 responding to leadership issues.

Auditors found that the college’s governance arrangements were not satisfactory for a period during 2021/22. In late 2021 the college also commissioned two independent investigations into complaints and grievances against the chair of the board, and the principal and the interim clerk to the board. It is these investigations and their associated costs that have proved costly.

The Scottish Government, councils and partners did well to increase early learning and childcare (ELC) provision to 1,140 hours a year per child, despite the challenge of the Covid-19 pandemic. But the sector remains fragile.

The criminal trial backlog that built up during the Covid-19 pandemic has been significantly reduced but waiting times for the most serious crimes have doubled.

Ronnie Hinds has been appointed as interim chair of the Accounts Commission for Scotland.

Mr Hinds will take up his post in June 2023, and has been appointed by the Local Government Empowerment Minister Joe Fitzpatrick MSP following the resignation of Dr William Moyes from the chair in May.

Scotland’s councils must radically change how they operate – particularly how they collaborate with partners – if they are to improve and maintain services to their communities.

Councils worked well with their partners to address the impacts of Covid-19. They need to implement the lessons learned during the pandemic in order to now cope with reducing budgets, growing demographic and workforce pressures, and declining performance across some services.

The Scottish Government needs to improve its set up to deliver the country’s climate change goals.

The government’s climate governance has improved since the former First Minister declared a climate emergency in 2019. However, adapting to the impact of climate change has received less focus than reducing emissions and hitting net zero targets.