22 September 2006
Tighter controls over the financing and accountability of Parliamentary 'czars' have been recommended by an influential committee of the Scottish Parliament.
The finance committee called on the Scottish Executive to halt the appointment of five new commissioners until work on duplication of effort between existing ones is complete.
Current czars include the Scottish public services ombudsman and commissioners for standards, public appointments and information. These cost £3.6m in 2004/05 and will cost s£5.7m in 2006/07.
The new commissioners the committee wants put on hold are for roadworks, civil enforcement, human rights, legal complaints and police complaints.
The committee recommended that no new commissioners should be established if that role could be carried out by an existing body. It suggested that the proposed human rights commissioner be integrated with the Scottish public services ombudsman's office.
Committee convener Des McNulty said: 'We believe that… no more bodies representing a specific interest group should be created as parliamentary commissioners.'
The committee also proposed that the Executive, which is carrying out a review of public sector scrutiny, should consider merging regulatory bodies with similar roles.
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