Ethical standards in public life framework: factsheet

The Ethical Standards in Public Life etc. (Scotland) Act 2000 established an ethical standards framework to ensure that councillors at local authorities and members of certain public bodies maintained the highest standards of behaviour.

The Act:

• introduced codes of conduct which councillors and members must comply with at all times in fulfilling their duties
• established the Standards Commission for Scotland
• established the office of the Chief Investigating Officer, whose role is now fulfilled by the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland (CESPLS)

The ethical standards framework covers:

• councillors in all 32 local authorities across Scotland
• members of the public bodies covered by the ethical standards framework, which are listed in Schedule 3 of the Act (this list is revised frequently)

Under this framework, individual councillors and members are responsible for adhering to their respective codes of conduct. They can be subject to investigation by the CESPLS and, if they are found to have breached a requirement of the relevant code, they may be called to a hearing carried out in public by the Standards Commission.

Codes of conduct

We set the code of conduct for councillors of all 32 local authorities across Scotland. We last revised the code in July 2018, updating the last one which was published in 2010.

We also set the model code of conduct for members of devolved public bodies, which is implememted by the CESPLS and the Standards Commission. Every public body listed in Schedule 3 of the Act must produce their own code of conduct for board members which is in line with this model.