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The Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland is an independent Officeholder whose team work in two areas:
Contents
· Public standards - investigating complaints about the conduct of MSPs, local authority councillors and members of public bodies.
· Public appointments - monitoring how people are appointed to the boards of specified public bodies in Scotland.
Role
The Commissioner and his team work in two areas:
History
The post was created by the Public Services Reform (Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland etc.) Order 2013, legislation which came into force on 1 July 2013. Prior to that there were separate pieces of legislation to deal with complaints and investigations. The Commissioner's role in public standards is legislated for in the Ethical Standards in Public Life etc. (Scotland) Act 2000 and the Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Act 2002.
The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body has a statutory responsibility for appointment of the Commissioner, with the agreement of the Scottish Parliament.
On 5 December 2013, Parliament approved the appointment of Bill Thomson as Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland, to take up the full-time post for a fixed term of 5 years from 1 April 2014. Thomson is a solicitor and was assistant chief executive at the Scottish Parliament; he replaced Stuart Allan who reached the end of his term on 31 March 2014.