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A lot of the commissioner’s work would be proactive work that would relate to proposals on regulations or to advocating for changes in policy. The vast majority of the work would be proactive.

The extent of the reactive work would depend on whether, for example, the Government was consulting on an issue that would affect older people. Obviously, the commissioner would take part in that process.

However, my proposal is absolutely about the commissioner having a proactive role. You can get a flavour of my thoughts on that by looking at the work of the children’s commissioner and the balance in the work that they have done.

Also, you can look at the example of the Older People’s Commissioner for Wales and the balance in that respect. The focus of that office has been very much on proactive work, and it has been very effective. For example, it has made proposals on increasing security of tenure for care home residents, creating new guidance on visiting care homes, embedding human rights in inspection frameworks, increasing care home residents’ access to independent advocacy, and producing good-practice guidance for employers in order that they avoid unconscious bias in the workplace.

Therefore, that commissioner has played a very proactive role and, importantly, has added to what already existed. The office has provided real added value to the debate on improving public policy in a very proactive way.

As I have said, the reactive element would depend, to an extent, on what the Government and committees were consulting on at any moment in time.

Absolutely. We previously had a cabinet secretary who had “Older People” in their title. The Government will argue that ministers have that remit, but putting that sort of thing front and centre in a title is important—that was certainly in the feedback that I got. However, that is very different from having an independent organisation such as a commissioner.

My proposal for an older people’s commissioner goes beyond advocacy, although that would be an important part of the commissioner’s work. You can get a flavour of the range—

I thank the committee for asking us along.

Like Jeremy Balfour, my starting point was very much the need for a strong independent voice—in my case, for older people. We had the stark eye-opening experience of the way in which older people were treated during the pandemic. We all saw the issues around “Do not resuscitate” orders, the challenges of loved ones in getting to see their relatives in care homes and the sheer appalling death toll of older people in care homes. That really opened my eyes to the extent to which the human rights of older people were being marginalised. In my view, there was a big gap when it came to strong advocacy for older people when those big decisions were made.

Why, specifically, should we have the SPCB supported model? First, the commissioner needs to be independent of Government and, crucially, they must be seen to be entirely independent of Government. In my view, that would be strengthened by the Parliament, not the Government, appointing the commissioner. Secondly, the commissioner needs to have strong statutory powers, such as investigative powers. That was the overwhelming view that came across in the consultation on my bill, in which there was strong support for that particular model.

There is already a good example in the office of the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland, which has done outstanding work. It has conducted a number of important investigations and has made a real difference on mental health counselling in schools, standing up for the human rights of children in secure accommodation, and the effectiveness of policies and procedures on restraint and seclusion in Scottish schools. We already have a model that works, and I was very conscious of that model in putting forward my proposal for an older persons commissioner.

We are having a debate about the number of commissioners and the need to keep the costs of commissioners down through things such as shared services. That becomes easier if the commissioners who are most likely to share services are based on the same model. We have a tried and tested model for commissioners, and I believe that that is the best model for a commissioner for older people.

Absolutely—and we can go beyond that and talk about the number of quangos whose combined budget is £6.6 billion. That raises a host of issues around shared services and scrutiny. The issue goes way beyond commissioners, and there is a feeling that commissioners are being singled out, particularly the SPCB supported ones.

We should look at the positives. The fact that proposals for commissioners are coming forward shows that it has been recognised that commissioners represent a positive policy intervention. We have seen positive work by the Children and Young People’s Commissioner, which is a good example of something that is actually working, and I will come back to that later. We are not alone: every part of the United Kingdom has a children’s commissioner. Further, Wales and Northern Ireland both have an older person’s commissioner, and there is a big campaign to have one in England as well, which probably shows that there is recognition that having such a commissioner is quite a positive intervention that upholds the rights of older people in those countries. All proposals have to be considered on their merits, and my proposal will stand or fall on its merits—I hope that it stands, of course.

The final point that I will make on that is that it is quite difficult to say to older people that we are now full up with commissioners and that, if a proposal for an older person’s commissioner had been put forward earlier, they might have got one, but they are not going to get one now.

You have to look at each proposal on its own merits. In my view, commissioners play a positive role, and the debate is about how we support commissioners and deal with the challenges around scrutiny, shared services and funding.

Do you want me to address the issue of the extent to which I looked at the criteria that the Finance Committee set out?

A short report on the committee’s decision will be prepared and published. I invite the committee to agree to delegate responsibility for that report to me, as convener. Are members happy with that?

Members indicated agreement.

There are no more questions from members, so I move to agenda item 2, which is formal consideration of the motion to approve the instrument. I remind everyone that only committee members and the minister may take part in this agenda item.

I invite the minister to move the motion.

Motion moved,

That the Economy and Fair Work Committee recommends that the Tied Pubs (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2025 [draft] be approved.—[Tom Arthur]

Motion agreed to.

I thank the minister and his officials for joining us.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the eighth meeting in 2025 of the Economy and Fair Work Committee. Our first item of business is a short evidence session on the draft Tied Pubs (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2025. I am pleased to welcome Tom Arthur, the Minister for Employment and Investment; Aileen Bearhop, the head of industry development in the Scottish Government; and Mairead McCrossan, a Government lawyer.

I invite the minister to make a short opening statement.

Thank you very much, minister. As you rightly said, the committee discussed quite a lot of the issues when you gave evidence in June last year, but some members have questions.