Scottish Commission for Human Rights (Appointment of Chair)
The next item of business is a debate on motion S3M-884, in the name of Pauline McNeill, on behalf of the selection panel, on the appointment of the chair of the Scottish commission for human rights.
As a member of the selection panel, I invite members to nominate Professor Alan Miller for appointment as the first chair of the Scottish commission for human rights, for an initial period of five years.
I will say a few words about the background and the selection process before I turn to the proposed nomination of Professor Miller. The Scottish Commissioner for Human Rights Bill was short but controversial and was finally passed in the previous session of Parliament. The Justice 1 Committee had identified that there were many bodies already dealing with human rights, which made the appointment of a Scottish commissioner for human rights difficult to justify. Indeed, the final committee report stated that there was only a small gap in the field of human rights. However, after some robust debate and detailed scrutiny, the then Scottish Executive was persuaded to make considerable changes to the bill to ensure that the Scottish Parliament would fund a human rights body that was more collegiate in nature, would fill the remaining gap in the field of human rights and be better able to respond to the everyday issues that affect the lives of ordinary Scots.
The commission's main function is to promote human rights and an understanding of what human rights are. Its legal powers were carefully crafted to recognise the existence of all the other bodies in the field of equality, public services and human rights. A strategic plan will now set out and guide the work of the commission. It will be published and available to anyone who wants to see what the commission is spending its time and money on. The Scottish Commission for Human Rights Act 2006 sets out clearly that the commission does not have overall responsibility for human rights but acts within its own remit. The responsibility for the enforcement of human rights is shared and the work of the Parliament continues to have human rights at its heart. The Scottish courts have the overall duty to make rulings and enforce the law.
We like to do things in our own way in Scotland and the 2006 act is no different. Unlike the Commission for Equality and Human Rights, which was set up by Westminster, the Scottish commission for human rights will be accountable to the Parliament and not to ministers. We spent time looking at other models of human rights commissions around the world and we settled on our own model. Indeed, it was Alan Miller who advised the interview panel that Scotland is now seen as a model for other countries to follow, and we should be proud of that.
Although we have not pleased everyone here—I am sure that we will hear from Bill Aitken, as we do—we have balanced the need for the commission to have the right measure of independence from the legislature while being financially accountable to the Parliament. The Parliament decides on the location of the commission and sets its budget, while the commission is responsible for setting its priorities and ensuring its independence.
I put on the record my thanks for their perseverance to the Justice 1 Committee members and to Robert Brown, then Deputy Minister for Education and Young People in charge of the bill.
The recruitment process was carried out by a selection panel on behalf of the Parliament, chaired by the Presiding Officer, and it consisted of Bill Aitken, Alasdair Allan, Hugh O'Donnell, Sandra White and me. The position was advertised in the press and I thank Louise Rose, the panel's independent adviser.
Professor Miller is a well-known and respected human rights lawyer with 25 years of involvement with the legal, academic and voluntary communities in Scotland. He is currently the director of McGrigors Rights, a human rights law consultancy, and a visiting professor of law, specialising in human rights, at the University of Strathclyde. In this role, he has assisted public authorities to develop best practice in compliance with human rights legislation.
Professor Miller also brings an international perspective and insight gained from his engagement with the United Nations and other bodies in capacity-building initiatives in around 20 countries in the world. That he has trained 100 Iraqi judges certainly impressed me.
The panel had no hesitation in agreeing the appointment unanimously. Indeed, the panel was relieved that it was able to make the appointment unanimously. Professor Miller will prove to be an effective and well-respected chair, who will bring to the post enthusiasm, knowledge and, importantly, an inclusive approach. I am sure that the Parliament will want to wish him every success in his role; it will be a demanding one.
Although the Human Rights Act 1998 has had some bad press, it is up to us to ensure that the work of the commission relates to the experiences of ordinary Scots. My advice to Alan Miller and the commission that he will appoint is to remember that its work must ensure that it includes the most disadvantaged communities in our society and makes human rights relevant to what they do.
May I be the first to congratulate Professor Alan Miller on getting this far.
I move,
That the Parliament nominates Professor Alan Miller to Her Majesty The Queen for appointment as Chair of the Scottish Commission for Human Rights.
I am very pleased to say that today sees the appointment of the first ever chair of the Scottish commission for human rights, Professor Alan Miller.
His experience in human rights and law is very impressive—director of a human rights law consultancy, visiting professor of law at the University of Strathclyde, and internationally renowned throughout the world as an expert adviser to the business leaders initiative on human rights, led by Mary Robinson, the former UN high commissioner for human rights.
Professor Miller's remit will be to promote awareness, understanding and respect for human rights, as well as reviewing and recommending changes to the policies or practices of public authorities and providing them with guidance. He will also work with the Parliament.
I commend his appointment to the Parliament. I look forward to working with the commission and wish Professor Miller all the best in his post.
I have been accused of many things, but being a hypocrite is not one of them, so I start by saying that today is a day that I hoped we would never see.
It appears that, over the years, this Parliament has come to require a commissioner to govern every possible facet of human behaviour. There are more tsars than there were in the Romanov dynasty. To our minds, this was a completely unnecessary appointment, but Parliament made a decision and, as democrats, my colleagues and I accept it.
Alan Miller and I have known each other for many years. I first came across him when he was a young solicitor who frequently appeared before me in the district court and expressed concern when condign punishment was visited on his clients. He was also a council constituent—although I suspect not a voter—of mine in the west end of Glasgow. It would be churlish of me to say anything other than that he has made a considerable contribution to human rights law. He is committed to the concept of human rights—as I imagine are all members of the Parliament—and he has done excellent work in the field. Pauline McNeill referred to his involvement in the training of judges in Iraq. I am sure that the benefits of that work will be manifest in Iraq in years to come.
I congratulate Professor Miller on his forthcoming appointment and look forward to working with him on occasions when human rights issues become entangled in the workings of the Parliament. This is a good appointment. I wish that we had never had to make it, but if we must have someone do the job there can be no better applicant than Alan Miller.
There are too many conversations taking place in the chamber. If members must converse, will they please do so outside the chamber.
I am grateful for the opportunity to say a few words. When I was Deputy Minister for Education and Young People during the previous session, I took the Scottish Commissioner for Human Rights Bill through the Parliament, not without tribulation, as Pauline McNeill mentioned. A key commitment from Liberal Democrats was delivered by Liberal Democrats in Government.
The commission's success in realising the hopes that human rights campaigners have for it will rest in considerable measure on the body's quality and style and not least on its chair. There was a gratifyingly large number of applications for the post, but I am not surprised that the proposed appointee is Professor Alan Miller. Four or five years ago I might have made a profitable wager on his appointment.
I have known Alan Miller for many years. He has exactly the attributes that are needed for the post. He has a wide and probably unrivalled knowledge of and connection with not just the subject matter, but everyone of significance who operates in the field, in the United Kingdom and internationally. He is highly respected here and elsewhere. He has huge experience of the practical implications of human rights for ordinary people. Above all, he has a measured, unassuming, understated style, which is not flamboyant or showy but—much more important—solid and authoritative. He knows how to work with rather than against people. He is in the business of persuasion rather than compulsion.
Alan Miller is the ideal man to take the human rights agenda forward and to demonstrate its worth in everyday life and its value to people who need the protection that good standards offer. I am delighted to support his appointment and I wish him and the commission well in the new role and programme of work that this Parliament, to its great credit, has established in Scotland. I support the motion.
I am grateful to Pauline McNeill and the other members of the selection panel. The Scottish Government had no involvement in the appointment process, which is rightly a matter for the Parliament, but we are happy to accept the panel's recommendation.
I congratulate Professor Miller on his nomination. His reputation goes before him, as Pauline McNeill, Robert Brown and Bill Aitken said. From personal experience I know that he has an impressive breadth of knowledge on human rights issues. He has been instrumental in devising and delivering human rights training for Scottish Government staff, as well as being involved in numerous matters around the globe, as Pauline McNeill said. If the nomination is confirmed in today's vote, I am sure that Professor Miller will be an excellent choice as the first chair of the Scottish commission for human rights.
It is a great honour to wind up this short debate on the nomination of Professor Alan Miller for appointment as the chair of the Scottish commission for human rights. On behalf of Liberal Democrats and, I am sure, all members, I congratulate him on his nomination.
I pay tribute to Robert Brown, who, when he was Deputy Minister for Education and Young People in the previous session, steered us through choppy waters to the position that we are now in. I am sure that we are all grateful to him.
The standard of the candidates that the panel had to select from was exceptional and I am sure that the nomination will reinforce our position as leading defenders of human rights throughout the world.
Sadly, we have seen over recent times the slow and often unremarked-upon erosion of many of the civil rights that we take for granted and threats to other rights in the name of protecting us from dangers, real or otherwise. It is vital that we do not sleepwalk into losing any of our sense of personal privacy or the civil liberties of which we are rightly proud. Nor should we forget that, alongside our human rights responsibilities, we have responsibilities to wider society: neither the commission nor the appointment of its chair should be considered a licence for spurious challenges under any legislation.
As a member of the Parliament, I look forward to working with Professor Miller in the cause of human rights. As a citizen of Scotland, I welcome and fully support his nomination to the post.