General

Guidance issued by The Standards Commission for Scotland

The Standards Commission has published Guidance Notes to assist Councillors and Members of Devolved Public Bodies in the interpretation of the Councillors' and Members' Codes of Conduct. These Guidance Notes are kept under regular review and current versions can be viewed by either clicking on the appropriate link below, or by accessing the "Guidance and Dispensations" menu at the left hand side of this page and selecting the relevant Guidance Note.

Link to Guidance and Dispensations Note to Councillors and Local Authorities in Scotland

Link to Guidance Note to Devolved Public Bodies in Scotland and their Members

Dispensations granted by The Standards Commission for Scotland

Section 5 of both the Councillors' and Members' Codes of Conduct deal with Declaration of Interests and set out the circumstances in which a Councillor or Member of a Devolved Public Body would be required to declare a financial or non-financial interest and withdraw from discussion and voting upon any item that interest related to.

In very limited circumstances, the Standards Commission has the ability to grant a dispensation which would allow the Councillor or Member concerned to continue discussing and voting on the matter, provided the relevant interest has been declared, where it is deemed to be in the public interest that they be allowed to do so.

The Standards Commission has issued general dispensations in respect of councillors:

a) who are council house tenants;

b) who are members of certain outside bodies; or

c) for the purpose of setting level of council tax

These dispensations can be viewed within the Guidance and Dispensations Note to Councillors and Local Authorities in Scotland by clicking here.

The Standards Commission will consider requests for dispensations which apply to an individual Councillor or Member, or a group of Councillors or Members who are all affected by a particular category of interest. As any application for dispensation must be carefully considered on its own individual merits, Councillors and Members of Devolved Public Bodies are advised within their relevant Guidance Note that they must not participate in any discussion or voting relating to the interest concerned until their application has been granted.

A list of the dispensations which have been granted by The Standards Commission to date can be accessed by either clicking on the link below, or by accessing the "Guidance and Dispensations" menu at the left hand side of this page and selecting the "Individual Applications Granted" menu option.

Link to Individual Applications Granted

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