The Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee will conclude its work this Parliament in March 2026 ahead of the next Scottish Parliament election. So the Committee has time to complete its work, it has agreed not to consider petitions submitted after 10 October.
The Committee will continue to meet but given the volume of petitions and agreed work programme it is unlikely that the Committee would be able to meaningfully progress work on petitions submitted after 10 October ahead of the election. Petitions lodged after this date will not fall when the Parliament is dissolved and will be for the successor committee to consider in the new session.
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Closed petition PE2093: Review and update the Scottish Ministerial Code
Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to review and update the Scottish Ministerial Code to:
- put the Code under statute
- enable the independent advisers (IAs) to initiate investigations, and if the First Minister decides to go against the IAs advice a statement should be provided to Parliament
- set out the sanctions for breaches other than misleading Parliament
- allow IAs to make recommendations for changes to the Code
- renaming the IA position to make it clear there is no judicial involvement
- require Ministers to make a public oath or commitment to abide by the Code.
Background information
I think the changes set out above would strengthen public standards in Scotland.
Through a statutory code (which Northern Ireland and partly Canada has), a First Minister (FM) would be unable to not have a Code.
Through self-initiated investigations by the IA, a FM could not block such investigations.
A statement in Parliament would enable an explanation as to why a FM has not taken the IAs advice.
The IAs should be able to offer their views on any potential short-comings of the Code itself so to improve it.
The IAs title gives an impression of judicial involvement which is misleading.
Ministers making public oaths would improve public confidence in adhering to it.
I also recommend the following reports which are useful reading:
This petition was considered by the Scottish Parliament
10 signatures