Finance and Public Administration Committee
Handling formal complaints - Scottish Government Update
Letter from the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for COVID Recovery to the Convener of 2 November 2021
Dear Kenneth
Further to my letter of 26 October, I thought you would appreciate knowing that the development of the updated procedure for handling complaints about Ministers has reached a milestone in its progress.
In June, the Scottish Government committed to establishing an external, independent procedure to handle formal complaints made about a current or former Minister’s behaviour. Following consultation with stakeholders, including our recognised trades unions, we are seeking to attract interest for external adjudicator and external investigator roles through advertising on the Scottish Government Public Appointments portal from today.
I have attached a copy of the adverts and person specifications for your information.
We are on track to develop the other parts of the procedure and a fuller update will be given before the end of the year as we committed to in June. I should also mention that Lesley Fraser, the Director General for Corporate, who oversees the introduction of the updated Procedure, will be in touch with David McGill to discuss more of the background and to identify links with the Parliament's own work on these issues.
I hope that you find this update helpful.
Yours sincerely
John Swinney
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