Does this mean that there is
1. The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body which appoints the
2. Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland which appoints
3. The Cross Party group which appoints the
4. The Standards Commission
5. An Ombudsman floating around there somewhere, too?
No snouts in the trough, there.
Plenty of snouts in the trough but these are the few checks and balances that Parliament has to hold the Government to account.
By cross Party group, I meant the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. All of its members are MSPs so have a democratic mandate and there is a statutory requirement for all political parties to be represented (by way of the various Scotland Acts).
The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body makes these non-ministerial public appointments independently of Government meaning that parliament appointees can independently investigate ministerial appointees (and local authority councillors) and their work.
The logic being that parliamentary appointees are accountable to Parliament and not to Government.
So the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body appoints, among others:
The Auditor General for Scotland
The Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland
The Chair and members of the Standards Commission for Scotland
The Public Services Ombudsman
The Freedom of Information Commissioners
I am basically saying that the Standards Commission is not appointed by the Government, is not funded by Government and in theory has a clear mandate to investigate without fear or favour.