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
Watch on SPTV
You will probably have seen from our risk register that one of the risks for us is that all the staff are moving on to a 35-hour working week. You will be able to do the sums yourself, but it is the equivalent of a post being lost.I have been working alongside the staff for well over a year, now, in anticipation of that, because I do not have all the answers and it is the people on the front line who usually know best where efficiencies can be made and gained. We have been working as a team to improve our productivity in all sorts of areas, and that is what we have done.
In the same item of business
The Convener
Lab
Our next item is evidence from Ian Bruce, the Ethical Standards Commissioner, on his annual report and accounts for 2024-25. Welcome back to the committee, I...
Ian Bruce (Ethical Standards Commissioner)
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...
The Convener
Lab
Thank you very much. I hope that, between us, we do not ruin our reputation in this meeting.As usual, as the convener, I have the privilege of leaping in fir...
Ian Bruce
Well—
The Convener
Lab
There will be a risk, but, in your view, how serious is it?
Ian Bruce
There will be none on my watch. As you know, public appointments are my wheelhouse, and the quality of appointments matters—that is the reality. As long as o...
The Convener
Lab
You have confidence that those lines of communication—that is, those by which red flags would be identified—are much stronger now than they were, say, five y...
Ian Bruce
Absolutely. The other thing to say is that there is now a threshold for whistleblowing to occur. That was not necessarily reached when the office was in the ...
The Convener
Lab
That is very reassuring.Something that I know exists—you have certainly updated it more than once—is the investigations manual. What benefits has that brough...
Ian Bruce
Indeed. It means that everything is handled in a consistent way. There are very clear guardrails in place.Those with an interest—not just complainers, but th...
The Convener
Lab
It is a bit of a living document that reflects experience.
Ian Bruce
It is, absolutely.
The Convener
Lab
Excellent. I call Sue Webber.
Sue Webber
Con
Commissioner, I want to ask about the funding that you operate with currently. You are fully funded by the SPCB, but I see that there was a decision to surre...
Ian Bruce
Things are going absolutely fine this year. We get a monthly financial forecast from the finance team, which the senior management team looks at. We are acut...
Sue Webber
Con
That is very fiscally prudent of you, commissioner. I am not going to disagree with your approach.In your introductory remarks, you mentioned the increase in...
Ian Bruce
You will probably have seen from our risk register that one of the risks for us is that all the staff are moving on to a 35-hour working week. You will be ab...
Sue Webber
Con
Can you share any specific examples of that?
Ian Bruce
Yes. First, we have moved on to SharePoint and Office 365, which gives us the advantage of access to Copilot. It is a form of artificial intelligence—a large...
Sue Webber
Con
That helps with turnover and speeds everything up.
Ian Bruce
It does speed everything up, but it also means that case allocation happens more quickly than previously, and we can also get out to people immediately if th...
Sue Webber
Con
If the move to a 35-hour week is, as you said, the equivalent of losing one full-time post, are you seeking to bring in another head?
Ian Bruce
No—I have planned for it. As I said, I am responsible for securing best value. I knew that we would be doing this, and, in our budget, we have come in under ...
Sue Webber
Con
Perhaps more people need to take a look at how you work, commissioner.
The Convener
Lab
I think that what you are saying is that redesigning things and increasing efficiency are allowing you to move to the 35-hour week, which effectively means t...
Ian Bruce
I have mentioned the investigations manual. One of the things that we asked our internal auditors to do—we have internal as well as external auditors—was to ...
The Convener
Lab
That is excellent. I call Ruth Maguire.09:30
Ruth Maguire (Cunninghame South) (SNP)
SNP
Good morning. I am struck by what you said about expecting stakeholders to have empathy if there was a hold-up. One of the stakeholders will be the elected p...
Ian Bruce
That varies considerably, depending on the nature and complexity of the complaint. The 21-day period is for initial assessment, and that is for complaints ab...
Ruth Maguire
SNP
Is that letter the first contact that they have from you? They do not sit waiting to hear from you.