Under section 16A of the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman Act 2002, the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) is required to publish a statement of principles concerning complaints handling. The SPSO cannot publish the statement until a draft has been laid before the Parliament and approved by resolution. This applies to any revision of the Statement that the Ombudsman considers to be “material”.

Section 16A was an update to the 2002 Act made in 2010. The first draft Statement of Complaints Handling Principles was laid on 5 November 2010 and on 12 January 2011, the Parliament approved the complaints handling principles.

SPSO Statement of Complaint Handling Principles

The SPSO wrote to the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee and laid an updated draft statement for consideration in the Parliament on 23 April 2025.

The Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee considered the draft statement at its meeting on 5 May 2025 and reported on 7 May. It said—

“In relation to the above document, the Committee highlights to the lead committee its correspondence with the Ombudsman.

In particular, the Committee highlights that:

• whether parliamentary procedure is required for this draft revised document is determined, conclusively, by whether the Ombudsman considers that the revision is “material” (section 16A(11) of the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman Act 2002), and

• confirmation has been obtained from the Ombudsman that the Ombudsman does consider that this revision is material. The Parliamentary procedure in section 16A(4)-(6) of the 2002 Act therefore applies to this document.

The Committee also highlights that confirmation has been obtained in this correspondence that the Ombudsman has fulfilled the requirement in section 16A(7)(a) to consult the Scottish Ministers, in particular, before laying the document. This was not mentioned in the laying documents."

The draft statement was referred to the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee for consideration. The Committee discussed its approach to consideration of the draft Statement at its meeting on 13 May 2025. The Committee considered the draft Statement at its meeting on 3 June 2025.