Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland - Annual Report 2022-23 1

Renfrewshire Council · 27 February 2025
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To: Council 
On: 27 February 2025 
Report by: Director of Finance & Resources 
Heading: Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in
Scotland – Annual Report 2023/24 
1 Summary 
1.1 The Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland has issued his
2023/24 annual report. The report is available on the Commissioner’s website at  
https://www.ethicalstandards.org.uk/node/2213 
1.2 The report provides details of investigations of complaints about the conduct of
councillors, members of devolved public bodies and MSPs and scrutiny of Scotland’s
Ministerial public appointments process. Where there has been contravention of the
relevant Code, the Commissioner reports this, in the case of councillors and members
of public bodies, to the Standards Commission for Scotland and in the case of MSPs
and in relation to lobbying complaints, to the Scottish Parliament. 
1.2  The report advises of revised governance arrangements, reinstated transparency
reporting and a new rolling biennial business covering all office functions. 
2 Recommendations 
2.1 That the 2023/24 Annual Report by the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in
Public Life in Scotland be noted; and 
2.2 That the actions taken in Renfrewshire in relation to the Code of Conduct
development as detailed in paragraph 11.2 of the report be noted.

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3 Background 
3.1 The 2022/23 annual report was the first published by Ian Bruce since his appointment
as Commissioner for a six-year period from 1 March 2023. 
4 Complaint Volumes In 2023/24 
4.1 Nationally, during 2023/24 the Commissioner received a total of 344 complaints,
compared with 156 in 2022/23 and 330 in 2021/22. 
4.2 The report advised that at the start of 2023/24, there were a large number of
complaints and cases already open as a result of the backlog of cases that had built
up in the previous year. Over the course of the year, the Standards Team completed
a total of 141 cases, an increase of 12% from the previous year despite a 29% rise in
the number of active cases under consideration in 2023/24 compared to 2022/23.
Complaint volumes during 2023/24 and previous two years 
2023/24 2021/22 2020/21
Already open at 1 April (beginning of financial year) 961 150 24
Received 344 156 330
Active during year 440 306 354
Completed 209 218 208
Cases remaining open at 31 March, (end of financial year) 231 88 146
1. There are minor differences in the carry forward totals from 2021/22 to 2022/23 and from 2022/23 to 2023/24. This is
due to a small number of cases    either being re-opened or additional complaints being added to existing cases 
Case Volumes during 2023/24 and previous years 
2023/24 2021/22 2020/21
Already open at 1 April (beginning of financial year) 671 86 8
Received 184 109 164
Active during year 251 195 172
Completed 141 127 88
Cases remaining open at 31 March, (end of financial year) 110 68 84
1. There are minor differences in the carry forward totals from 2021/22 to 2022/23 and from 2022/23 to 2023/24. This is due to a
small number of cases either being re-opened or additional complaints being added to existing cases 
5 Categories of Complaints Received 
5.1 The categories of complaints received, and the number of complaints received
for 2023/24 are indicated below with disrespect towards employees and the public
being the most common type of complaint received. This remains unchanged
from previous years. Taking together cases in relation to disrespect towards both
councillors/members, employees and the public accounted for 55% of the total
complaints received during 2023/24.

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Complaints Received During 2023/24 (Total 344) 
Type of complaint      2023/24 
Disrespect towards employees/public   157
Outwith jurisdiction      47
Disrespect towards other councillors/members  33
Quasi-judicial or regulatory applications   30
Other        28
Breach of confidentiality     20
Failure to declare an interest    13
Fubabcuak nuscibdyct/Misuse of council facilities 10
Failure to register an interest    5
Breach of key principles 
1
NOTE: Outwith jurisdiction complaints are complaints which are about conduct which, following assessment, does not fall within the remit of the Code. They are
distinct from complaints which we cannot accept as they are outwith the jurisdiction of the Commissioner’s office, such as a complaint about a Councillor in
England 
6 Origin of Complaints 
6.1 The pie chart provides details of who made complaints to the Commission in
2023/24. Complaints from members of the public accounted for almost 80% of the
total number of complaints received during 2023/24 and this figure is similar to
previous years. 
 
 
7 Complaints About Conduct of Councillors 
7.1 The Commission saw a reduction in the number of new complaints received
during the year and this allowed them to dedicate more staff time to reducing their
backlog. The report advised that the backlog had significantly reduced such that
it was now taking up to four months, instead of the previous wait of 11 months,
for an initial complaint to be assessed. In the interests of transparency, their
website now has a banner and a supporting page which sets out waiting times
and investigation times for all complaints. 
7.2 The report noted that when several complaints were received about the same or
closely related issues, they combined these complaints together and assessed

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and/or investigated them as a single case. 
7.3 The Standards Commission for Scotland (SCS) Direction of March 2021 requires
the Commission to investigate all complaints received about councillors or
members, except in fairly narrow circumstances. In essence, any conduct which
has happened in the 12 months prior to the complaint being made and where, on
the face of it, a breach of the applicable code has taken place must be
investigated. This Direction was renewed for a five-month period in March 2023.
The SCS agreed not to renew the Direction beyond August 2023 following
agreement from the Ethical Standards Commissioner that the Commissioner
would include wording from it on the face of the ESC Investigations Manual. The
Commission continues to investigate all complaints that could, on their face,
represent a breach of the Code. This has increased the number of complaints
being investigated since the start of 2021/22. 
8 Outcome of Complaints Nationally 
8.1 Nationally a total of 45 cases (79 complaints) progressed to full investigation and
were reported on and finalised during the year, with 17 being breach reports
(regarding 9 cases) which were heard by the Standards Commission, and 62 being
reported on as non-breach (regarding 36 cases). 
Outcome from complaints completed in 2023/24 and previous two years 
2023/24  2021/22  2020/21
Initial Assessment 121 56% 125 60% 227 82%
Full Investigation 79 36% 75 36% 49 18%
Breach 17 8% 6 3% 39 14%
No Breach 62 28% 69 33% 10 4%
Withdrawn 18 8% 8 4% 1 0%
Total completed 218  208  277 
Outcome from cases completed in 2023/24 and previous two years 
2023/24  2021/22  2020/21
Initial Assessment 69 54% 56 64% 132 84%
Full Investigation 45 36% 26 29% 24 15%
Breach 9 7% 5 6% 17 11%
No Breach 36 28% 21 23% 7 4%
Withdrawn 13 10% 6 7% 1 1%
Total completed 127  88  157 
9 Outcome of Complaints relating to Renfrewshire Council 
9.1 Information has been received separately from the Commissioner that, during the
period covered by the report, five complaints were received regarding Renfrewshire
Council in 2022/2023. Two of these related to disrespect towards the public/council
employees, one related to disrespect towards other councillors and two other
complaints related to general disrespect and a conflict of interest.

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9.2 Two of the complaints were dismissed at the admissibility stage and did not progress
to investigation. Two of the complaints progressed to investigation where the
Commissioner found the Councillor had not breached the Code of Conduct. The fifth
is still under an open investigation. 
10 Hearings 
10.1 Under current Directions, the Commissioner reports the outcome of all
investigations to the Standards Commission for Scotland (SCS). They may hold a
hearing, direct the Commissioner to conduct further investigation or do neither. If
the SCS concludes at a hearing that a breach of the Code has occurred, they must
impose a sanction. 
10.2 Nationally, 36 reports where the Commissioner found there was no breach were
submitted to the SCS. There were a further 9 reports which were referred to the
SCS where the Commissioner found that a breach had occurred. Renfrewshire
Council were not involved in any reports referred to SCS. 
11 Code of Conduct 
11.1 On 16 August 2023, as part of the programme of events and development
opportunities for Councillors, the Head of Corporate Governance provided an
annual update to Members on the Code of Conduct/Standards Commission. 
11.2 The Council’s Head of Corporate Governance is available for members should they
wish to seek advice on the Code of Conduct generally and specifically in relation to
the registration and declaration of interests. 
12 Public Appointments 
12.1 The Commission regulates how Scottish Ministers make appointments to the
boards of public bodies that are within their remit. 
12.2 The ESC report recognised that further improvements could be made in order to
achieve effective boards that were reflective of the communities that they served.
The revised Code of Practice for Ministerial Appointments came into effect October
2022 and was making a difference to practices. 
12.3 Training was now obligatory for selection panel chairs and for independent panel
members and the ESC were happy to assist the Scottish Government in the design
of that training programme and it had been received well. The respective roles and
responsibilities of everyone engaged in the appointments process was clearer, with
considerably more responsibility vested in the panel chair, who fulfils that role on
behalf of the appointing minister. There were signs that the new process was
reducing bureaucracy, which was one of the intentions, but also that panel chairs
were taking considerably more ownership of the appointment process. They were
required to report on reasons for the success or failure of the appointment rounds for
which they have responsibility. 
13 Future Plans 
13.1 Having reviewed and completely revised their governance arrangements during the
course of the prior year, the ESC are now in a period of relative stability and are

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operating to a revised strategic plan for 2021-24 and a new rolling biennial business
plan covering all office functions. 
13.2 The business plan continues to demonstrate progress against each of the external
and internal auditors’ recommendations and they have drafted a new strategic plan
to run from 2024-28. 
Implications of the Report 
1 Financial - None 
2 HR & Organisational Development – None 
3 Community Planning – None 
4 Legal - None 
5 Property/Assets – None 
6 Information Technology - None 
7 Equality & Human Rights – The Recommendations contained within this report
have been assessed in relation to their impact on equalities and human rights. No
negative impacts on equality groups or potential for infringement of individuals’
human rights have been identified arising from the recommendations contained in
the report. If required following implementation, the actual impact of the
recommendations and the mitigating actions will be reviewed and monitored, and
the results of the assessment will be published on the Council’s website. 
8 Health & Safety – None 
9 Procurement - None 
10 Risk – None. 
11 Privacy Impact – None 
12 Climate Risk – None 
13 COSLA Implications – None 
14 Children’s Rights – none 
Author: Dave Low, Democratic Services & Elections Manager 
0141 487 1118 
Email: david.low@renfrewshire.gov.uk