Plan to reduce Scottish 'tsars'

Holyrood bosses want to shake up appointments

The case to halve the number of Holyrood-funded Scottish "tsars" has been made to MSPs.

Holyrood bosses said the number of commissioners could be reduced from six to three, while still maintaining all the current watchdog functions.

MSP Tom McCabe, of the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body, said Holyrood had succumbed to "commissioner-itis".

Finance Secretary John Swinney said there was merit in the plan.

Holyrood currently has six independent watchdogs under its wing, which has sparked Tory accusations there were "more tsars than in the Romanoff dynasty".

They are the Office of the Ombudsman, Information Commissioner, the Standards Commissioner, the Children's Commissioner, the Public Appointments Commissioner, and the Scottish Commission for Human Rights, employing 96 staff in all.

Under the reforms, one would be responsible for complaints and standards, the second would deal with questions of rights, while the information commissioner would be retained as a separate post.

'Many strengths'

Mr McCabe told a special parliament committee reviewing Holyrood-supported bodies: "What we are proposing is a structural merger of the bodies, and the functions undertaken by the existing bodies should remain, although how those functions are executed could of course change."

The Labour MSP added: "I think it's fair to say that in the first two sessions (of parliament) with the very best of intentions, there was a degree of commissioner-itis."

Mr McCabe also suggested some commissioners were also prone to empire-building - citing the case of one who asked for a budget rise double the rate of inflation.

The finance secretary said the proposals had many strengths, adding: "If there was an appetite to take that model forward, the government would be happy to engage in discussion with the committee."

The corporate body has also put forward plans to appoint future commissioners on a one-off, fixed-term basis.

They are currently appointed for up to five years, with re-appointment possible.

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