Strategic commercial interventions: monitoring framework

1. Rationale

The monitoring of Scottish Government’s (SG’s) strategic commercial assets is a vital element of the management phase of the intervention process that helps “improve current and future decision making”.^[1] As highlighted in HM Treasury’s Green Book, appropriate monitoring ensures “improved management and adaptation of implementation in response to evidence based on live data collection and analysis and inform subsequent operational delivery”.^[2]

The importance of monitoring assets is further outlined in the Business Investment Framework (BIF) within the Scottish Public Finance Manual (SPFM) where it sets out the principles which need to be supported by Scottish Ministers when making an investment in government. It highlights that:

“Approved investments must be underpinned by a robust monitoring regime to ensure the protection of investment and oversight of the changing nature of the financial risk to which taxpayers are exposed. There should be regular monitoring checks on at least a quarterly basis to ensure that good management arrangements are in place, the business case remains up to date, and there is an active plan to secure benefits associated with the intervention.” ^[3]