Nationwide consultation on enhancing equal opportunities in Scotland's public appointments process.

On 21 November 2007, Karen Carlton, Commissioner for Public Appointments, published for consultation the first equal opportunities strategy for public appointments in Scotland - Diversity Delivers.

The boards of our public bodies do not reflect the diversity of the population of Scotland.  In addition, during the past three years the average number of applicants for each post has fallen by 30%. If public appointees continue to be drawn from the usual quarters the pool will go on decreasing and be ever less reflective of the population. Conversely, if appointment opportunities are made accessible to all, we can be confident that our future boards will have the very best talent that Scotland has to offer. To achieve this, the Commissioner is proposing a major overhaul of the the public appointments system.

These proposals are contained in Diversity Delivers, a strategy which was widely consulted on. The consultation period closed on 7 March 2008 and we welcomed responses from everyone interested in our public bodies.  A pro forma questionnaire was available for those wishing to respond.

The strategy and its associated documents are available to download from this page in both PDF and MS Word formats. If you would like the documents in an alternative format please contact OCPAS on 0131 718 6268 or info@publicappointments.org.

The Diversity Delivers consultation closed on 7 March 2008. We received 33 written responses and 43 people participated in focus groups at consultation events around Scotland. A report summarising the responses and outcome of the consultation is being prepared and will be published to coincide with the launch of the finalised strategy on 1 September. In the meantime you can view a spreadsheet of the responses here. A few of our respondents preferred their responses not to be published; those responses have been removed from this document. If you have any difficulty accessing or reading the spreadsheet, please contact the OCPAS office for assistance.

Supplementary Material:

Annex A - The Ministerial Public Appointments Process in Scotland

PDF version   Word version

Annex B - Summary of research conducted

PDF version   Word version

Annex C - Stage 1 Research

PDF version   Word version

Annex D - Stage 2 Research

PDF version    Word version

Annex E - Stage 3 Research

PDF version    Word version

Annex F - Summary of Previous Research on Diversity in Public Appointments

PDF version    Word version

Annex G - The Legal Duties

PDF version    Word version

Annex H - The Appointment Hallmark

PDF version    Word version

Annex I - Rapid Impact Assessment for the Proposed Strategy

PDF version    Word version

As outlined in the proposed strategy, we held three consultation events around Scotland, for those who wished to contribute to the consultation in person. The events were as follows:

Edinburgh          Thursday 7 February, 2008

Venue: The Scottish Parliament (Committee Room 1)

The Scottish Parliament: - Visiting Holyrood - How to find us

Glasgow            Tuesday 12 February, 2008

Glasgow: Glasgow Opportunities, 36 North Hanover Street (just off George Square)

GO Business Training Centre - how to find us

Inverness           Friday 22 February, 2008

Inverness: Scottish Natural Heritage, Great Glen House, Leachkin Road, Inverness, IV3 8NW

Scottish Natural Heritage - how to find us  

Nationwide consultation on a new code of practice for public appointments in Scotland

In 2005 Karen Carlton, Commissioner for Public Appointments, laid before the Scottish Parliament for consultation, the Code of Practice for Ministerial Appointments to Public Bodies in Scotland. The Code was subject to a formal consultation period, during which the Commissioner sought comments from government, public bodies, interested organisations and the general public. A list of the bodies and individuals consulted is available here in pdf format. A summary of the responses we received is available here in pdf format.

The consultation period ended in September 2005 and all responses were reviewed and considered to produce a final version of the Code.  The new Code of Practice, which came into force on 01 April 2006 is now available to download here.