SPCB Written Question · S3W-16396 · Session 3
With reference to the statement in the Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner’s annual report for 2006-07 that “significant one-off …
The question
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body, with reference to the statement in the Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner’s annual report for 2006-07 that “significant one-off costs such as meeting the cost of a legal challenge will now be met from a central contingency fund in the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body budget rather than from the Commissioner’s budget”, whether such a legal challenge has ever been brought against the Commissioner.
The answer
Under Schedule 1 paragraph 5 of the Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Act 2002, the SPCB has a statutory duty to fund the Standards Commissioner. The SPCB has a similar duty to fund other officeholders such as the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman and the Scottish Information Commissioner.
The officeholders'' central contingency fund was established by the SPCB to remove the need for each individual officeholder to have a built-in contingency in their individual budgets. The central contingency fund is for exceptional expenditure which cannot be met from the officeholder''s agreed budget allocation for any given year, such as a potential legal challenge in the courts in relation to a function exercised by the commissioner.
The SPCB is not aware of any legal challenge having been brought against the commissioner and as such no application to use the central contingency fund has been made by the Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner.
The officeholders'' central contingency fund was established by the SPCB to remove the need for each individual officeholder to have a built-in contingency in their individual budgets. The central contingency fund is for exceptional expenditure which cannot be met from the officeholder''s agreed budget allocation for any given year, such as a potential legal challenge in the courts in relation to a function exercised by the commissioner.
The SPCB is not aware of any legal challenge having been brought against the commissioner and as such no application to use the central contingency fund has been made by the Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner.
In the Official Report
No contribution in the Official Report cites S3W-16396 by reference.