Official Report search · Parliament Workbench

Committee

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee 05 March 2026 [Draft]

05 Mar 2026 · S6 · Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee

Item of business

Ethical Standards Commissioner

Ian Bruce (Ethical Standards Commissioner) Watch on SPTV

Good morning. Thank you, convener and members, for the opportunity to provide evidence. I have prepared a brief opening statement, to ensure that there is as much time as possible for questions to me on the work of the office.Given that this will be our last session together, I first acknowledge and set out for the record my gratitude to you, convener, and to the other members of the committee for your understanding and support for my office during this session of Parliament. We have come through a challenging period, but, thanks to the dedication and ability of the staff, we are in a very good place at this time, and we are also well placed to fulfil our role into the future.This will come as no surprise to anyone, but I should highlight that the annual report that I am giving evidence on is fairly dated. Almost a year has passed since the financial year that it covers ended, so it might be helpful to provide a more up-to-date picture to the committee, to let you know how things are at the moment. As the committee will be aware, complaint numbers can provide an indication of the depth of feeling that the public might have about issues, but my office also provides statistical information on cases, which is a better indicator of workload.In general, complaints and cases have increased again this year. For councillors and board members, up to the end of December—the first three quarters of the year—we have seen case numbers increase by about 65 per cent. For MSPs—I checked the figures for you this morning, because I know that this is of interest to the committee—up to the end of February, we have had 57 cases this year. So far, that represents a 148 per cent increase. Complaints about lobbying continue to be relatively rare. We have had only one case this year, which is being assessed, and that compares to two cases last year.I am sorry to say that the majority of the complaints that we deal with continue to relate to incivility in public life. That is a pernicious and worrying trend, and I am working with other stakeholder organisations with a view to addressing it if we can.In spite of rising complaints and case numbers, we have managed to bring down waiting times again over the same period. We are now consistently reaching a decision on admissibility within two months and completing investigations within six months on average, which is well inside our key performance indicators. We publish the most up-to-date figures on our website. In the previous quarter, on average, we took 42 days to assess councillor complaints and 21 days to assess MSP complaints. That has taken hard work and dedication from me and the staff, but we have also introduced a range of additional measures to improve our efficiency as an organisation.That is the update. I am happy to take any questions that members might have.

Search Hansard contributions

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee 05 March 2026 [Draft]

In the same item of business