Chamber and committees

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Scrutiny of Ombudsman, Commissioner, Commission and Regulator accountable to the Committee

The Committee has a role in scrutinising the performance of the following bodies who are accountable to the Parliament:

The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO);
The Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland (also known as the Ethical Standards Commissioner — ESC);
The Standards Commission for Scotland (SCS); and
The Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR).

The Committee undertakes annual scrutiny of these bodies, normally based around their annual reports.

The role of the Committee is to consider how the four bodies carry out their functions. The Committee does not have a direct role in the work of these organisations and does not have a role in considering individual cases or complaints.

The SPSO, ESC and the SCS are independent office holders supported by the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. You can read more about these on the Officeholders page.

The SHR is a Non-Ministerial Department independent of the Scottish Government. It is directly accountable to the Scottish Parliament. It is not supported by the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. You can read more about the SHR on their website.

Call for views (closed)

To inform its scrutiny of the Scottish Housing Regulator and the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman, the Committee asked for your views on the two bodies.

You can view the questions asked by the Committee and the responses to the call for views by accessing the links below:

Call for views on the Scottish Housing Regulator

Call for views on the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman

Both calls for views closed on Friday 11 October.

Meetings

The inquiry was discussed at the following Committee meetings:

Chamber and committees

Scrutiny of Ombudsman, Commissioner, Commission and Regulator accountable to the Committee

Call for views (closed)

Meetings

22 March 2022 (10th Meeting)

29 March 2022 (11th Meeting)

06 December 2022 (31st Meeting)

20 December 2022 (33rd Meeting)

10 January 2023 (1st Meeting)

05 December 2023 (29th Meeting)

12 December 2023 (30th Meeting)

29 October 2024 (28th Meeting)

19 November 2024 (31st Meeting)

26 November 2024 (32nd Meeting)

03 December 2024 (33rd Meeting)

10 December 2024 (34th Meeting)

17 December 2024 (36th Meeting)

18 February 2025 (5th Meeting)

25 February 2025 (6th Meeting)

04 March 2025 (7th Meeting)

13 May 2025 (13th Meeting)

14 May 2025 (14th Meeting)

03 June 2025 (18th Meeting)

07 October 2025 (26th Meeting)

25 November 2025 (30th Meeting)

02 December 2025 (31st Meeting)

09 December 2025 (32nd Meeting)

Correspondence