The Scotland Act 1998 (Transitory and Transitional Provisions) (Complaints of Maladministration) Order 1999

Reports

14.—(1) Where the Scottish Commissioner conducts an investigation or decides not to conduct an investigation, he shall send to the member of the Parliament by whom the request for investigation was made (or, if he is no longer a member of the Parliament, to such member as the Scottish Commissioner thinks appropriate) a report of the investigation or, as the case may be, a statement of his reasons for not conducting an investigation.

(2) Where the Scottish Commissioner conducts an investigation, he shall also send a report of the investigation to the authority subject to investigation and to any other person who is alleged in the complaint to have taken or authorised the action complained of.

(3) If, after conducting an investigation, it appears to the Scottish Commissioner that injustice has been caused to the person aggrieved in consequence of maladministration and that the injustice has not been, or will not be, remedied, he may, if he thinks fit, lay before the Parliament a special report on the case.

(4) The Scottish Commissioner shall annually lay before the Parliament a general report on the performance of his functions and may from time to time lay before the Parliament such other reports with respect to those functions as he thinks fit.

(5) For the purposes of the law of defamation, the following are absolutely privileged–

(a) the publication of any matter by the Scottish Commissioner in making a report to the Parliament for the purposes of this Order;

(b) the publication of any matter by a member of the Parliament in communicating with the Scottish Commissioner or any member of his staff for those purposes or by the Scottish Commissioner or any member of his staff in communicating with such a member for those purposes;

(c) the publication by the Scottish Commissioner to a member of the Parliament or by that member to the person by whom a complaint was made of a report or statement under paragraph (1); and

(d) the publication by the Scottish Commissioner to the authority or other person mentioned in paragraph (2) of a report sent to that authority or that person under that paragraph.