Chamber and committees

Collette, you are sitting very quietly. Do you want to ask your questions now?

Liam Kerr wants to ask about teething issues, Mark, and then we will come back to you.

Okay. It would be helpful to see who is on that list. I would be interested to see that, so maybe you could drop a line to the clerks after the committee meeting.

Jackie, are you finished? If so, I will bring in Liam Kerr.

Thank you. The next question will come from the deputy convener, Fiona Hyslop.

You mentioned stakeholders. Who are they? Are they statutory bodies, non-statutory bodies or charities?

That might have been a statement.

The whole point of the system is to be fair to all parties: to the person who makes a complaint and to the person who is complained about. You have outlined the procedure that you have gone through for the person who is making the complaint and how they can find out about and in due course see the progress of their complaint through the system. That is very important, because it gives you a certain amount of strength to argue your case that you are taking each complaint seriously—I know that you do that, but it lets you prove it.

Although you have to be impartial in how you investigate a case, are you happy that you are giving advice to the person at the sharp end of the complaint about what they can do? After all, it is quite nerve wracking. I had a complaint against me. It was struck off, as it happens, but I can tell you that it is a nerve-wracking procedure because most—I would say all—MSPs want to do the best they can. It is quite daunting when you get a letter, especially if you are a new MSP, which in my case I was. Do you feel that you are doing as much as you can for the person the complaint is being made about and that you are giving them the correct advice on where they can seek support and help.

I will perhaps leave it there, convener. I am sure that it is work in progress that everyone considers to be important, because the process should be fair for all—not just the complainer but the person who is complained about. I welcome your comment that you think that more could be done.

It would be helpful for me to see it. This is one of the things that I feel very strongly about. I do not want to discourage anyone from making complaints, but a speedy and fair resolution is absolutely critical for the person who has received the complaint against them. If someone is informed that there is a complaint against them, I believe that it goes against natural justice if it then takes months to sort it out. The pressure on that individual is huge. I am keen to see that that procedure form is there and there are review dates so that, if a complaint sits there for more than a set period of time, that is flagged up to the next level of management until eventually it lands on your desk with a flag saying, “If I don’t resolve this tomorrow, it might be my job on the line as well.” Is that procedure in place?

I am sure that that is good news. I stress that I am not trying to discourage people from complaining, but I am thinking about the pressures on individuals with a complaint against them.

Convener, I have a question about the advice that is given to people who have a complaint against them. It may be appropriate to put that later in the session.