Public Appointments > Latest News > 19/12/2025
The Prologue to Election and Reform: Public Appointments in 2024/25
19 December 2025
Throughout 2024/25, the Ethical Standards Commissioner’s office has continued its wide-ranging work to ensure the effective oversight and regulation of public appointments in Scotland.
In 2024/25, we...
Regulated 101 | Regulated 793 | Oversaw 90 | Responded to 520 |
We also…
- Tendered for and secured 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
- Commenced a thematic review on the time commitment, remuneration, and other aspects of the role of public appointees in Scotland
- Published good practice case studies and snippets on appointment rounds to support the work of selection panels
- Surveyed applicants, panel chairs, and body chairs on their experience of engaging with the public appointments process
- Provided 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.”
