Public Appointments > Research and Reports > Annual Reports > Annual Report 2024/25
Public Appointments Annual Report 2024/25
19 December 2025
The Ethical Standards Commissioner’s standalone Public Appointments Annual Report provides an overview of our work during the 2024/25 financial year, and highlights:
- How we performed against our business plan and against Diversity Delivers, the Commissioner’s public appointments strategy since 2008;
- How we monitored and provided guidance on the public appointments process in Scotland; and,
- How the regulated public appointments landscape has continued to change throughout 2024-25.
In 2024/25, we...
Regulated 101 | Regulated 793 | Oversaw 90 | Responded to 520 |
This is also the first full year covered by our Strategic Plan 2024-28, which sets out the Commissioner’s objectives for public appointments, which are that:
- We will, through supportive and constructive regulation, make a significant contribution to a public appointments system that produces effective and diverse boards that are reflective of the communities that they serve; and
- We will strive to be recognised leaders in the regulation of a system that is effectively run to achieve the appointment of the most able people to our boards and that is managed in compliance with the highest ethical standards.
During 2024/25, the public appointments team at the Commissioner’s office have undertaken a wide range of work, including:
- Tendering for and securing a contractor to refresh the Commissioner’s diversity strategy for public appointments in Scotland following 17 years of progress under the 2008 strategy, Diversity Delivers
- Commencing a thematic review on the time commitment, remuneration, and other aspects of the role of public appointees in Scotland
- Publishing good practice case studies and snippets on appointment rounds to support the work of selection panels
- Surveying applicants, panel chairs, and body chairs on their experience of engaging with the public appointments process
- Providing advice, guidance, and training to support Scottish Government officials involved in the public appointments process.
Reflecting on the progress made in the year, Ian Bruce, the Ethical Standards Commissioner, said the following about our programme of work for the year ahead:
“In the coming year we expect to see the beginnings of more seismic shifts within Scotland’s public appointments landscape. As we approach the 2026 Scottish Parliamentary elections, so, too, have we seen greater attention paid to the current state of public appointments: with Audit Scotland publishing a report spotlighting governance issues within the NHS; greater engagement between our office and the Scottish Ministers over Scotland’s public sector reform; and greater engagement between our office and our stakeholders over the development of a new public appointments diversity strategy. We see clear links between diversity of thought and contribution to good governance. High quality appointments will continue to be required to provide leadership as the public service landscape changes. With the Scottish Government’s Public Appointments Team settling in following a period of high turnover, we look forward to working closely with them to ensure that boards are able to deliver these changes effectively.”
