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It is really just a generic question about whether the revised code of practice can successfully hold ministers to account, bearing in mind the counterbalancing factor of the complaint that, if the code was overprescriptive, it would not work.

Hello, Bob. Excellent. We are up to question 2. I am not sure how much you have managed to hear.

That leads us on to Paul McLennan’s area of interest.

I now hand over to Bob Doris.

I am very grateful for that. I would say that it was a kind offer but, from listening to your evidence, I think that it is the sort of offer that we expect and can expect.

On behalf of the committee, I thank you for your time, acting commissioner, for coming in on a slightly dreich day and for your evidence.

It would. To clarify in my own mind, in essence, a complaint is when someone corresponds with you about an event that they wish to complain about.

Thank you. We now move to the next agenda item, which the committee has agreed to take in private.

That is very helpful. The only thought that I have about pushing that forward is that monitoring such things and providing guidance on them would be a very heavy draw on the committee’s resources.

I echo your thanks to Gordon MacDonald on this, but is there not a process by which we could have the purpose of a CPG plus the ability, which a lot of CPGs require, for it to call out from the highest mountain the benefits of that group?

Thank you. My apologies—Edward Mountain wants to speak.

Then, in some circumstances, that will become a case in its own right as a one-off and there will be a response made by whomever the allegation is made against. However, there are occasions when there are a number of different complaints, perhaps from a number of different sources, and, for the purposes of reaching an equitable and legal conclusion, it makes sense to deal with them together, and that then becomes a case. When there are large numbers of complaints and smaller numbers of cases, it is not that things have vanished; it is that they have been brought together for the purposes of justice. Is that right?