Making a formal complaint about a minister’s or former minister’s behaviour: procedure

Reporting the outcome of concluded complaints

The Ministerial Code provides that the Scottish Government will publish information about concluded formal complaints about a Minister’s or Former Minister’s behaviour, other than where for legal reasons it is not possible to do so without prejudicing the rights of confidentiality owed to a complainer or others involved.

For complaints which are upheld or partially upheld, the following information will be published within 20 working days:

• the name of the Minister
• the outcome of the complaint (upheld or partially upheld)
• a redacted version of the decision report

For complaints which are not upheld, the following information will be published within 20 working days:

• the name of the Minister
• the outcome of the complaint (not upheld)

In the case of complaints not upheld, the information will be published for a fixed period of six months.

The identity of the complainer(s) and any witnesses will remain confidential and any information which could lead to identification of the complainer or witnesses will be redacted.

Complaint numbers

We publish data on the number of complaints made by civil servants about a current or former Minister's behaviour.