Meeting of the Parliament
Meeting date: Thursday, September 5, 2013
Official Report
830KB pdf
Ministerial Appointments to Public Bodies (Draft Code of Practice)
The next item of business is consideration of motion S4M-07209, in the name of Dave Thompson, on the Standards, Procedures, and Public Appointments Committee report on “The Draft Code of Practice for Ministerial Appointments to Public Bodies in Scotland”.
I call Helen Eadie to speak to and move the motion on behalf of the committee.
16:51
Unfortunately, Dave Thompson is unable to be here. As deputy convener of the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee, I am standing in for him.
The draft code of practice for ministerial appointments to public bodies was laid before the Parliament by the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life on 20 May 2013. It was formally submitted to the Scottish ministers and the Parliament under section 2(4) of the Public Appointments and Public Bodies etc (Scotland) Act 2003. That section requires the commissioner to consult the Parliament and the Scottish ministers on the draft code.
We took evidence from the commissioner on the code on 6 June and published our report on 26 June. To summarise, our report welcomes the commissioner’s intention in the code to make the appointments system more effective, cost efficient and attractive to potential applicants by ensuring that the processes are more straightforward and proportionate and reduce bureaucracy.
Simplifying the processes in those ways will lead to there being a wider range of applicants for appointments. That said, the committee is keen to ensure that the crucial scrutiny role that the commissioner performs is not watered down as a result of changes to the code. We have made that clear in our report, while welcoming assurances given by the commissioner that that is not the purpose of the code.
The report also welcomes the fact that the commissioner has added “diversity” to the overarching principles of the code. That is a positive and progressive step.
Overall, the report makes a number of recommendations for the commissioner. We encourage the commissioner to take full account of the findings of the report when finalising the code over the next few weeks.
The committee welcomes the code and commends the commissioner for developing a simplified yet robust document. We look forward to the publication of the final code.
I ask the Parliament to endorse the committee’s report as its formal response to the commissioner.
I move,
That the Parliament agrees that the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee, 6th Report, 2013 (Session 4), The Draft Code of Practice for Ministerial Appointments to Public Bodies in Scotland (SP Paper 371), together with the Official Report of the Parliament’s debate on the report, should form the Parliament’s response to the Public Appointments Commissioner for Scotland’s consultation on the draft Code of Practice for Ministerial Appointments to Public Bodies in Scotland.
The question on the motion will be put at decision time.