Seòmar agus comataidhean

I state that I was a councillor in West Dunbartonshire Council from 2003 to 2022.

I will move on to my questions, which are about the revised code of conduct that the Scottish ministers issued. You have spoken about the issue quite a bit, but are there areas where the current code may need to be strengthened?

The annual report states that the commission had decided to renew all three directions to the Commissioner for Ethical Standards for a further two years. Why did you feel the need to do that, and what procedures were followed in making that decision?

I hand back to the convener.

What factors have contributed to enabling you to reduce the backlog of cases so significantly?

We will certainly be interested in those findings. That is me, convener.

How significant a factor has that been in holding up the remediation process?

Thanks for that confirmation.

I will carry on looking at the single building assessment process, which we touched on earlier. The bill states that a single building assessment can proceed without the consent of the owner, provided that a notice period has lapsed and any appeal that may have been lodged has been determined or withdrawn. How prevalent has the problem been of securing consent for assessments, and how significant a factor has that been in holding up the remediation process?

Why do you think the number of complaints about councillors was so much lower in 2022-23 than it was in 2021-22, and has that trend continued into this reporting year? From the figures, it looks as if the 2022-23 number is half of what it was the year before that.

Close the Gap said that the membership should be gender balanced. Do you agree with that?