Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Code of Con­duct for Board Members

Adop­ted by board 13 Septem­ber 2024; Approved for imple­ment­a­tion 1 Octo­ber 2024

Con­tents

• Sec­tion 1: Intro­duc­tion to the code of conduct
  • My Respons­ib­il­it­ies
  • Enforce­ment
• Sec­tion 2: Key Prin­ciples of the Code of Conduct
• Sec­tion 3: Gen­er­al Conduct
  • Respect and Courtesy
  • Remu­ner­a­tion, Allow­ances and Expenses
  • Gifts and Hospitality
  • Con­fid­en­ti­al­ity
  • Use of Pub­lic Body Resources
  • Deal­ing with my Pub­lic Body and Pref­er­en­tial Treatment
  • Appoint­ments to Out­side Organisations
• Sec­tion 4: Regis­tra­tion of Interests
  • Cat­egory One: Remuneration
  • Cat­egory Two: Oth­er Roles
  • Cat­egory Three: Contracts
  • Cat­egory Four: Elec­tion Expenses
  • Cat­egory Five: Houses, Land and Buildings
  • Cat­egory Six: Interest in Shares and Securities
  • Cat­egory Sev­en: Gifts and Hospitality
  • Cat­egory Eight: Non-Fin­an­cial Interests
  • Cat­egory Nine: Close Fam­ily Members
• Sec­tion 5: Declar­a­tion of Interests
  • Stage One: Connection
  • Stage Two: Interest
  • Stage Three: Participation
• Sec­tion 6: Lob­by­ing and Access Matters
• Sec­tion 7: Tak­ing Decisions on Quasi-Judi­cial and Reg­u­lat­ory Matters
  • Policy and strategy
  • Enforce­ment
• Annexes
  • Annex A: Breaches of the Code
  • Annex B: Definitions

Adop­ted by board 13 Septem­ber 2024; Approved for imple­ment­a­tion 1 Octo­ber 2024

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Sec­tion One: Intro­duc­tion to the Code of Conduct

1.1 This Code has been issued by the Scot­tish Min­is­ters, with the approv­al of the Scot­tish Par­lia­ment, as required by the Eth­ic­al Stand­ards in Pub­lic Life etc. (Scot­land) Act 2000 (the ​“Act”).

1.2 The pur­pose of the Code is to set out the con­duct expec­ted of those who serve on the boards of pub­lic bod­ies in Scotland.

1.3 The Code has been developed in line with the nine key prin­ciples of pub­lic life in Scot­land. The prin­ciples are lis­ted in Sec­tion 2 and set out how the pro­vi­sions of the Code should be inter­preted and applied in practice.

My Respons­ib­il­it­ies

1.4 I under­stand that the pub­lic has a high expect­a­tion of those who serve on the boards of pub­lic bod­ies and the way in which they should con­duct them­selves in under­tak­ing their duties. I will always seek to meet those expect­a­tions by ensur­ing that I con­duct myself in accord­ance with the Code.

1.5 I will com­ply with the sub­stant­ive pro­vi­sions of this Code, being sec­tions 3 to 6 inclus­ive, in all situ­ations and at all times where I am act­ing as a board mem­ber of my pub­lic body, have referred to myself as a board mem­ber or could object­ively be con­sidered to be act­ing as a board member.

1.6 I will com­ply with the sub­stant­ive pro­vi­sions of this Code, being sec­tions 3 to 6 inclus­ive, in all my deal­ings with the pub­lic, employ­ees and fel­low board mem­bers, wheth­er form­al or informal.

1.7 I under­stand that it is my per­son­al respons­ib­il­ity to be famil­i­ar with the pro­vi­sions of this Code and that I must also com­ply with the law and my pub­lic body’s rules, stand­ing orders and reg­u­la­tions. I will also ensure that I am famil­i­ar with any guid­ance or advice notes issued by the Stand­ards Com­mis­sion for Scot­land (“Stand­ards Com­mis­sion”) and my pub­lic body, and endeav­our to take part in any train­ing offered on the Code.

1.8 I will not, at any time, advoc­ate or encour­age any action con­trary to this Code.

1.9 I under­stand that no writ­ten inform­a­tion, wheth­er in the Code itself or the asso­ci­ated Guid­ance or Advice Notes issued by the Stand­ards Com­mis­sion, can provide for all cir­cum­stances. If I am uncer­tain about how the Code applies, I will seek advice from the Stand­ards Officer of my pub­lic body, fail­ing whom the Chair or Chief Exec­ut­ive of my pub­lic body. I note that I may also choose to seek extern­al leg­al advice on how to inter­pret the pro­vi­sions of the Code.

Enforce­ment

1.10 Part 2 of the Act sets out the pro­vi­sions for deal­ing with alleged breaches of the Code, includ­ing the sanc­tions that can be applied if the Stand­ards Com­mis­sion finds that there has been a breach of the Code. More inform­a­tion on how com­plaints are dealt with and the sanc­tions avail­able can be found at Annex A.

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Sec­tion Two: Key Prin­ciples of the Code of Conduct

2.1 The Code has been based on the fol­low­ing key prin­ciples of pub­lic life. I will behave in accord­ance with these prin­ciples and under­stand that they should be used for guid­ance and inter­pret­ing the pro­vi­sions in the Code.

2.2 I note that a breach of one or more of the key prin­ciples does not in itself amount to a breach of the Code. I note that, for a breach of the Code to be found, there must also be a con­tra­ven­tion of one or more of the pro­vi­sions in sec­tions 3 to 6 inclus­ive of the Code.

The key prin­ciples are:

a) Duty — I have a duty to uphold the law and act in accord­ance with the law and the pub­lic trust placed in me. I have a duty to act in the interests of the pub­lic body of which I am a mem­ber and in accord­ance with the core func­tions and duties of that body.

b) Self­less­ness — I have a duty to take decisions solely in terms of pub­lic interest. I must not act in order to gain fin­an­cial or oth­er mater­i­al bene­fit for myself, fam­ily or friends.

c) Integ­rity — I must not place myself under any fin­an­cial, or oth­er, oblig­a­tion to any indi­vidu­al or organ­isa­tion that might reas­on­ably be thought to influ­ence me in the per­form­ance of my duties.

d) Objectiv­ity — I must make decisions solely on mer­it and in a way that is con­sist­ent with the func­tions of my pub­lic body when car­ry­ing out pub­lic busi­ness includ­ing mak­ing appoint­ments, award­ing con­tracts or recom­mend­ing indi­vidu­als for rewards and benefits.

e) Account­ab­il­ity and Stew­ard­ship — I am account­able to the pub­lic for my decisions and actions. I have a duty to con­sider issues on their mer­its, tak­ing account of the views of oth­ers and I must ensure that my pub­lic body uses its resources prudently and in accord­ance with the law.

f) Open­ness — I have a duty to be as open as pos­sible about my decisions and actions, giv­ing reas­ons for my decisions and restrict­ing inform­a­tion only when the wider pub­lic interest clearly demands.

g) Hon­esty — I have a duty to act hon­estly. I must declare any private interests relat­ing to my pub­lic duties and take steps to resolve any con­flicts arising in a way that pro­tects the pub­lic interest.

h) Lead­er­ship — I have a duty to pro­mote and sup­port these prin­ciples by lead­er­ship and example, and to main­tain and strengthen the public’s trust and con­fid­ence in the integ­rity of my pub­lic body and its mem­bers in con­duct­ing pub­lic business.

i) Respect — I must respect all oth­er board mem­bers and all employ­ees of my pub­lic body and the role they play, treat­ing them with cour­tesy at all times. Sim­il­arly, I must respect mem­bers of the pub­lic when per­form­ing my duties as a board member.

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Sec­tion Three: Gen­er­al Conduct

Respect and Courtesy

3.1 I will treat every­one with cour­tesy and respect. This includes in per­son, in writ­ing, at meet­ings, when I am online and when I am using social media.

3.2 I will not dis­crim­in­ate unlaw­fully on the basis of race, age, sex, sexu­al ori­ent­a­tion, gender reas­sign­ment, dis­ab­il­ity, reli­gion or belief, mar­it­al status or pregnancy/​maternity; I will advance equal­ity of oppor­tun­ity and seek to foster good rela­tions between dif­fer­ent people.

3.3 I will not engage in any con­duct that could amount to bul­ly­ing or har­ass­ment (which includes sexu­al har­ass­ment). I accept that such con­duct is com­pletely unac­cept­able and will be con­sidered to be a breach of this Code.

3.4 I accept that dis­respect, bul­ly­ing and har­ass­ment can be: a) a one-off incid­ent, b) part of a cumu­lat­ive course of con­duct; or c) a pat­tern of behaviour.

3.5 I under­stand that how, and in what con­text, I exhib­it cer­tain beha­viours can be as import­ant as what I com­mu­nic­ate, giv­en that dis­respect, bul­ly­ing and har­ass­ment can be phys­ic­al, verbal and non-verbal conduct.

3.6 I accept that it is my respons­ib­il­ity to under­stand what con­sti­tutes bul­ly­ing and har­ass­ment and I will util­ise resources, includ­ing the Stand­ards Commission’s guid­ance and advice notes, my pub­lic body’s policies and train­ing mater­i­al (where appro­pri­ate) to ensure that my know­ledge and under­stand­ing is up to date.

3.7 Except where it is writ­ten into my role as Board mem­ber, and / or at the invit­a­tion of the Chief Exec­ut­ive, I will not become involved in oper­a­tion­al man­age­ment of my pub­lic body. I acknow­ledge and under­stand that oper­a­tion­al man­age­ment is the respons­ib­il­ity of the Chief Exec­ut­ive and Exec­ut­ive Team.

3.8 I will not under­mine any indi­vidu­al employ­ee or group of employ­ees, or raise con­cerns about their per­form­ance, con­duct or cap­ab­il­ity in pub­lic. I will raise any con­cerns I have on such mat­ters in private with seni­or man­age­ment as appropriate.

3.9 I will not take, or seek to take, unfair advant­age of my pos­i­tion in my deal­ings with employ­ees of my pub­lic body or bring any undue influ­ence to bear on employ­ees to take a cer­tain action. I will not ask or dir­ect employ­ees to do some­thing which I know, or should reas­on­ably know, could com­prom­ise them or pre­vent them from under­tak­ing their duties prop­erly and appropriately.

3.10 I will respect and com­ply with rul­ings from the Chair dur­ing meet­ings of: d) my pub­lic body, its com­mit­tees; and e) any out­side organ­isa­tions that I have been appoin­ted or nom­in­ated to by my pub­lic body or on which I rep­res­ent my pub­lic body.

3.11 I will respect the prin­ciple of col­lect­ive decision-mak­ing and cor­por­ate respons­ib­il­ity. This means that once the Board has made a decision, I will sup­port that decision, even if I did not agree with it or vote for it.

Remu­ner­a­tion, Allow­ances and Expenses

3.12 I will com­ply with the rules, and the policies of my pub­lic body, on the pay­ment of remu­ner­a­tion, allow­ances and expenses.

Gifts and Hospitality

3.13 I under­stand that I may be offered gifts (includ­ing money raised via crowd­fund­ing or spon­sor­ship), hos­pit­al­ity, mater­i­al bene­fits or ser­vices (“gift or hos­pit­al­ity”) that may be reas­on­ably regarded by a mem­ber of the pub­lic with know­ledge of the rel­ev­ant facts as pla­cing me under an improp­er oblig­a­tion or being cap­able of influ­en­cing my judgement.

3.14 I will nev­er ask for or seek any gift or hospitality.

3.15 I will refuse any gift or hos­pit­al­ity, unless it is: a) a minor item or token of mod­est intrins­ic value offered on an infre­quent basis; b) a gift being offered to my pub­lic body; c) hos­pit­al­ity which would reas­on­ably be asso­ci­ated with my duties as a board mem­ber; or d) hos­pit­al­ity which has been approved in advance by my pub­lic body.

3.16 I will con­sider wheth­er there could be a reas­on­able per­cep­tion that any gift or hos­pit­al­ity received by a per­son or body con­nec­ted to me could or would influ­ence my judgement.

3.17 I will not allow the prom­ise of money or oth­er fin­an­cial advant­age to induce me to act improp­erly in my role as a board mem­ber. I accept that the money or advant­age (includ­ing any gift or hos­pit­al­ity) does not have to be giv­en to me dir­ectly. The offer of mon­ies or advant­ages to oth­ers, includ­ing com­munity groups, may amount to bribery, if the inten­tion is to induce me to improp­erly per­form a function.

3.18 I will nev­er accept any gift or hos­pit­al­ity from any indi­vidu­al or applic­ant who is await­ing a decision from, or seek­ing to do busi­ness with, my pub­lic body.

3.19 If I con­sider that declin­ing an offer of a gift would cause offence, I will accept it and hand it over to my pub­lic body at the earli­est pos­sible oppor­tun­ity and ask for it to be registered.

3.20 I will promptly advise my pub­lic body’s Stand­ards Officer if I am offered (but refuse) any gift or hos­pit­al­ity of any sig­ni­fic­ant value and / or if I am offered any gift or hos­pit­al­ity from the same source on a repeated basis, so that my pub­lic body can mon­it­or this.

3.21 I will famil­i­ar­ise myself with the terms of the Bribery Act 2010, which provides for offences of brib­ing anoth­er per­son and offences relat­ing to being bribed.

Con­fid­en­ti­al­ity

3.22 I will not dis­close con­fid­en­tial inform­a­tion or inform­a­tion which should reas­on­ably be regarded as being of a con­fid­en­tial or private nature, without the express con­sent of a per­son or body author­ised to give such con­sent, or unless required to do so by law. I note that if I can­not obtain such express con­sent, I should assume it is not given.

3.23 I accept that con­fid­en­tial inform­a­tion can include dis­cus­sions, doc­u­ments, and inform­a­tion which is not yet pub­lic or nev­er inten­ded to be pub­lic, and inform­a­tion deemed con­fid­en­tial by statute.

3.24 I will only use con­fid­en­tial inform­a­tion to under­take my duties as a board mem­ber. I will not use it in any way for per­son­al advant­age or to dis­cred­it my pub­lic body (even if my per­son­al view is that the inform­a­tion should be pub­licly available).

3.25 I note that these con­fid­en­ti­al­ity require­ments do not apply to pro­tec­ted whis­tleblow­ing dis­clos­ures made to the pre­scribed per­sons and bod­ies as iden­ti­fied in statute.

Use of Pub­lic Body Resources

3.26 I will only use my pub­lic body’s resources, includ­ing employ­ee assist­ance, facil­it­ies, sta­tion­ery and IT equip­ment, for car­ry­ing out duties on behalf of the pub­lic body, in accord­ance with its rel­ev­ant policies.

3.27 I will not use, or in any way enable oth­ers to use, my pub­lic body’s resources: a) imprudently (without think­ing about the implic­a­tions or con­sequences); b) unlaw­fully; c) for any polit­ic­al activ­it­ies or mat­ters relat­ing to these; or d) improperly.

Deal­ing with my Pub­lic Body and Pref­er­en­tial Treatment

3.28 I will not use, or attempt to use, my pos­i­tion or influ­ence as a board mem­ber to: a) improp­erly con­fer on or secure for myself, or oth­ers, an advant­age; b) avoid a dis­ad­vant­age for myself, or cre­ate a dis­ad­vant­age for oth­ers; or c) improp­erly seek pref­er­en­tial treat­ment or access for myself or others.

3.29 I will avoid any action which could lead mem­bers of the pub­lic to believe that pref­er­en­tial treat­ment or access is being sought.

3.30 I will advise employ­ees of any con­nec­tion, as defined at Sec­tion 5, I may have to a mat­ter, when seek­ing inform­a­tion or advice or respond­ing to a request for inform­a­tion or advice from them.

Appoint­ments to Out­side Organisations

3.31 If I am appoin­ted, or nom­in­ated by my pub­lic body, as a mem­ber of anoth­er body or organ­isa­tion, I will abide by the rules of con­duct and will act in the best interests of that body or organ­isa­tion while act­ing as a mem­ber of it. I will also con­tin­ue to observe the rules of this Code when car­ry­ing out the duties of that body or organisation.

3.32 I accept that if I am a dir­ect­or or trust­ee (or equi­val­ent) of a com­pany or a char­ity, I will be respons­ible for identi­fy­ing, and tak­ing advice on, any con­flicts of interest that may arise between the com­pany or char­ity and my pub­lic body.

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Sec­tion Four: Regis­tra­tion of Interests

4.1 The fol­low­ing para­graphs set out what I have to register when I am appoin­ted and whenev­er my cir­cum­stances change. The register cov­ers my cur­rent term of appointment.

4.2 I under­stand that reg­u­la­tions made by the Scot­tish Min­is­ters describe the detail and times­cale for regis­ter­ing interests; includ­ing a require­ment that a board mem­ber must register their regis­trable interests with­in one month of becom­ing a board mem­ber, and register any changes to those interests with­in one month of those changes hav­ing occurred.

4.3 The interests which I am required to register are those set out in the fol­low­ing para­graphs. Oth­er than as required by para­graph 3.32, I under­stand it is not neces­sary to register the interests of my spouse or cohabitee.

Cat­egory One: Remuneration

4.4 I will register any work for which I receive, or expect to receive, pay­ment. I have a regis­trable interest where I receive remu­ner­a­tion by vir­tue of being: a) employed; b) self-employed; c) the hold­er of an office; d) a dir­ect­or of an under­tak­ing; e) a part­ner in a firm; f) appoin­ted or nom­in­ated by my pub­lic body to anoth­er body; or g) engaged in a trade, pro­fes­sion or voca­tion or any oth­er work.

4.5 I under­stand that in rela­tion to 4.4 above, the amount of remu­ner­a­tion does not require to be registered. I under­stand that any remu­ner­a­tion received as a board mem­ber of this spe­cif­ic pub­lic body does not have to be registered.

4.6 I under­stand that if a pos­i­tion is not remu­ner­ated it does not need to be registered under this cat­egory. How­ever, unre­mu­ner­ated dir­ect­or­ships may need to be registered under Cat­egory Two, ​“Oth­er Roles”.

4.7 I must register any allow­ances I receive in rela­tion to mem­ber­ship of any organ­isa­tion under Cat­egory One.

4.8 When regis­ter­ing employ­ment as an employ­ee, I must give the full name of the employ­er, the nature of its busi­ness, and the nature of the post I hold in the organisation.

4.9 When regis­ter­ing remu­ner­a­tion from the cat­egor­ies lis­ted in para­graph 4.4 (b) to (g) above, I must provide the full name and give details of the nature of the busi­ness, organ­isa­tion, under­tak­ing, part­ner­ship or oth­er body, as appro­pri­ate. I recog­nise that some oth­er employ­ments may be incom­pat­ible with my role as board mem­ber of my pub­lic body in terms of para­graph 6.8 of this Code.

4.10 Where I oth­er­wise under­take a trade, pro­fes­sion or voca­tion, or any oth­er work, the detail to be giv­en is the nature of the work and how often it is undertaken.

4.11 When regis­ter­ing a dir­ect­or­ship, it is neces­sary to provide the registered name and registered num­ber of the under­tak­ing in which the dir­ect­or­ship is held and provide inform­a­tion about the nature of its business.

4.12 I under­stand that regis­tra­tion of a pen­sion is not required as this falls out­side the scope of the category.

Cat­egory Two: Oth­er Roles

4.13 I will register any unre­mu­ner­ated dir­ect­or­ships where the body in ques­tion is a sub­si­di­ary or par­ent com­pany of an under­tak­ing in which I hold a remu­ner­ated directorship.

4.14 I will register the registered name and registered num­ber of the sub­si­di­ary or par­ent com­pany or oth­er under­tak­ing and the nature of its busi­ness, and its rela­tion­ship to the com­pany or oth­er under­tak­ing in which I am a dir­ect­or and from which I receive remuneration.

Cat­egory Three: Contracts

4.15 I have a register­able interest where I (or a firm in which I am a part­ner, or an under­tak­ing in which I am a dir­ect­or or in which I have shares of a value as described in para­graph 4.20 below) have made a con­tract with my pub­lic body: a) under which goods or ser­vices are to be provided, or works are to be executed; and b) which has not been fully discharged.

4.16 I will register a descrip­tion of the con­tract, includ­ing its dur­a­tion, but exclud­ing the value.

Cat­egory Four: Elec­tion Expenses

4.17 If I have been elec­ted to my pub­lic body, then I will register a descrip­tion of, and state­ment of, any assist­ance towards elec­tion expenses relat­ing to elec­tion to my pub­lic body.

Cat­egory Five: Houses, Land and Buildings

4.18 I have a regis­trable interest where I own or have any oth­er right or interest in houses, land and build­ings, which may be sig­ni­fic­ant to, of rel­ev­ance to, or bear upon, the work and oper­a­tion of my pub­lic body.

4.19 I accept that, when decid­ing wheth­er or not I need to register any interest I have in houses, land or build­ings, the test to be applied is wheth­er a mem­ber of the pub­lic, with know­ledge of the rel­ev­ant facts, would reas­on­ably regard the interest as being so sig­ni­fic­ant that it could poten­tially affect my respons­ib­il­it­ies to my pub­lic body and to the pub­lic, or could influ­ence my actions, speeches or decision-making.

Cat­egory Six: Interest in Shares and Securities

4.20 I have a register­able interest where: a) I own or have an interest in more than 1% of the issued share cap­it­al of the com­pany or oth­er body; or b) Where, at the rel­ev­ant date, the mar­ket value of any shares and secur­it­ies (in any one spe­cif­ic com­pany or body) that I own or have an interest in is great­er than £25,000.

Cat­egory Sev­en: Gifts and Hospitality

4.21 I under­stand the require­ments of para­graphs 3.13 to 3.21 regard­ing gifts and hos­pit­al­ity. As I will not accept any gifts or hos­pit­al­ity, oth­er than under the lim­ited cir­cum­stances allowed, I under­stand there is no longer the need to register any.

Cat­egory Eight: Non-Fin­an­cial Interests

4.22 I may also have oth­er interests, and I under­stand it is equally import­ant that rel­ev­ant interests such as mem­ber­ship or hold­ing office in oth­er pub­lic bod­ies, com­pan­ies, clubs, soci­et­ies and organ­isa­tions such as trades uni­ons and vol­un­tary organ­isa­tions, are registered and described. In this con­text, I under­stand non-fin­an­cial interests are those which mem­bers of the pub­lic with know­ledge of the rel­ev­ant facts might reas­on­ably think could influ­ence my actions, speeches, votes or decision-mak­ing in my pub­lic body (this includes its Com­mit­tees and mem­ber­ships of oth­er organ­isa­tions to which I have been appoin­ted or nom­in­ated by my pub­lic body).

Cat­egory Nine: Close Fam­ily Members

4.23 I will register the interests of any close fam­ily mem­ber who has trans­ac­tions with my pub­lic body or is likely to have trans­ac­tions or do busi­ness with it.

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Sec­tion Five: Declar­a­tion of Interest

Stage One: Connection

5.1 For each par­tic­u­lar mat­ter I am involved in as a board mem­ber, I will first con­sider wheth­er I have a con­nec­tion to that matter.

5.2 I under­stand that a con­nec­tion is any link between the mat­ter being con­sidered and me, or a per­son or body I am asso­ci­ated with. This could be a fam­ily rela­tion­ship or a social or pro­fes­sion­al contact.

5.3 A con­nec­tion includes any­thing that I have registered as an interest.

5.4 A con­nec­tion does not include being a mem­ber of a body to which I have been appoin­ted or nom­in­ated by my pub­lic body as a rep­res­ent­at­ive of my pub­lic body, unless: a) The mat­ter being con­sidered by my pub­lic body is quasi-judi­cial or reg­u­lat­ory; or b) I have a per­son­al con­flict by reas­on of my actions, my con­nec­tions or my leg­al obligations.

Stage Two: Interest

5.5 I under­stand my con­nec­tion is an interest that requires to be declared where the object­ive test is met – that is where a mem­ber of the pub­lic with know­ledge of the rel­ev­ant facts would reas­on­ably regard my con­nec­tion to a par­tic­u­lar mat­ter as being so sig­ni­fic­ant that it would be con­sidered as being likely to influ­ence the dis­cus­sion or decision-making.

Stage Three: Participation

5.6 I will declare my interest as early as pos­sible in meet­ings. I will not remain in the meet­ing nor par­ti­cip­ate in any way in those parts of meet­ings where I have declared an interest.

5.7 I will con­sider wheth­er it is appro­pri­ate for trans­par­ency reas­ons to state pub­licly where I have a con­nec­tion, which I do not con­sider amounts to an interest.

5.8 I note that I can apply to the Stand­ards Com­mis­sion and ask it to grant a dis­pens­a­tion to allow me to take part in the dis­cus­sion and decision-mak­ing on a mat­ter where I would oth­er­wise have to declare an interest and with­draw (as a res­ult of hav­ing a con­nec­tion to the mat­ter that would fall with­in the object­ive test). I note that such an applic­a­tion must be made in advance of any meet­ings where the dis­pens­a­tion is sought and that I can­not take part in any dis­cus­sion or decision-mak­ing on the mat­ter in ques­tion unless, and until, the applic­a­tion is granted.

5.9 I note that pub­lic con­fid­ence in a pub­lic body is dam­aged by the per­cep­tion that decisions taken by that body are sub­stan­tially influ­enced by factors oth­er than the pub­lic interest. I will not accept a role or appoint­ment if doing so means I will have to declare interests fre­quently at meet­ings in respect of my role as a board mem­ber. Sim­il­arly, if any appoint­ment or nom­in­a­tion to anoth­er body would give rise to object­ive con­cern because of my exist­ing per­son­al involve­ment or affil­i­ations, I will not accept the appoint­ment or nomination.

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Sec­tion Six: Lob­by­ing and Access

6.1 I under­stand that a wide range of people will seek access to me as a board mem­ber and will try to lobby me, includ­ing indi­vidu­als, organ­isa­tions and com­pan­ies. I must dis­tin­guish between: a) any role I have in deal­ing with enquir­ies from the pub­lic; b) any com­munity engage­ment where I am work­ing with indi­vidu­als and organ­isa­tions to encour­age their par­ti­cip­a­tion and involve­ment, and; c) lob­by­ing, which is where I am approached by any indi­vidu­al or organ­isa­tion who is seek­ing to influ­ence me for fin­an­cial gain or advant­age, par­tic­u­larly those who are seek­ing to do busi­ness with my pub­lic body (for example contracts/​procurement).

6.2 In decid­ing wheth­er, and if so how, to respond to such lob­by­ing, I will always have regard to the object­ive test, which is wheth­er a mem­ber of the pub­lic, with know­ledge of the rel­ev­ant facts, would reas­on­ably regard my con­duct as being likely to influ­ence my, or my pub­lic body’s, decision-mak­ing role.

6.3 I will not, in rela­tion to con­tact with any per­son or organ­isa­tion that lob­bies, do any­thing which con­tra­venes this Code or any oth­er rel­ev­ant rule of my pub­lic body or any stat­utory provision.

6.4 I will not, in rela­tion to con­tact with any per­son or organ­isa­tion that lob­bies, act in any way which could bring dis­cred­it upon my pub­lic body.

6.5 If I have con­cerns about the approach or meth­ods used by any per­son or organ­isa­tion in their con­tacts with me, I will seek the guid­ance of the Chair, Chief Exec­ut­ive or Stand­ards Officer of my pub­lic body.

6.6 The pub­lic must be assured that no per­son or organ­isa­tion will gain bet­ter access to, or treat­ment by, me as a res­ult of employ­ing a com­pany or indi­vidu­al to lobby on a fee basis on their behalf. I will not, there­fore, offer or accord any pref­er­en­tial access or treat­ment to those lob­by­ing on a fee basis on behalf of cli­ents com­pared with that which I accord any oth­er per­son or organ­isa­tion who lob­bies or approaches me. I will ensure that those lob­by­ing on a fee basis on behalf of cli­ents are not giv­en to under­stand that pref­er­en­tial access or treat­ment, com­pared to that accor­ded to any oth­er per­son or organ­isa­tion, might be forthcoming.

6.7 Before tak­ing any action as a res­ult of being lob­bied, I will seek to sat­is­fy myself about the iden­tity of the per­son or organ­isa­tion that is lob­by­ing and the motive for lob­by­ing. I under­stand I may choose to act in response to a per­son or organ­isa­tion lob­by­ing on a fee basis on behalf of cli­ents but it is import­ant that I under­stand the basis on which I am being lob­bied in order to ensure that any action taken in con­nec­tion with the lob­by­ist com­plies with the stand­ards set out in this Code and the Lob­by­ing (Scot­land) Act 2016.

6.8 I will not accept any paid work: a) which would involve me lob­by­ing on behalf of any per­son or organ­isa­tion or any cli­ents of a per­son or organ­isa­tion. b) to provide ser­vices as a strategist, adviser or con­sult­ant, for example, advising on how to influ­ence my pub­lic body and its mem­bers. This does not pro­hib­it me from being remu­ner­ated for activ­ity which may arise because of, or relate to, mem­ber­ship of my pub­lic body, such as journ­al­ism or broad­cast­ing, or involve­ment in rep­res­ent­at­ive or present­a­tion­al work, such as par­ti­cip­a­tion in del­eg­a­tions, con­fer­ences or oth­er events.

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Sec­tion 7: Tak­ing Decisions on Quasi-Judi­cial and Reg­u­lat­ory Matters

7.1 I need to be espe­cially vigil­ant when I am mak­ing a decision on a quasi-judi­cial or reg­u­lat­ory applic­a­tion. For these applic­a­tions, I need to ensure there is a prop­er and fair hear­ing of the applic­a­tion and I must avoid any impres­sion of bias in the whole decision-mak­ing process.

7.2 I may deal with many types of quasi-judi­cial or reg­u­lat­ory applic­a­tions. Depend­ing on the type of applic­a­tion that is made, there will often be a form­al, stat­utory decision-mak­ing pro­cess for its con­sid­er­a­tion and out­come. There may also be form­al leg­al routes to chal­lenge decisions made on these applic­a­tions and for this reas­on I must be aware that my own per­son­al respons­ib­il­ity to ensure a prop­er and fair hear­ing has wider con­sequences for the Nation­al Park Authority’s repu­ta­tion and fin­an­cial liab­il­it­ies in the event of any challenge.

7.3 Quasi-judi­cial or reg­u­lat­ory decisions typ­ic­ally involve: a) Plan­ning b) Access c) Licens­ing d) Byelaws and oth­er reg­u­lat­ory activ­it­ies e) Stat­utory enforce­ment pro­ced­ure f) Staff­ing and employ­ment issues with­in the Board’s remit g) Stat­utory appeals and consents

The above list is provided to me only for guid­ance and is not exhaust­ive. If I have any doubt as to wheth­er or not my involve­ment involves a quasi-judi­cial or reg­u­lat­ory mat­ter, I will seek the advice of the Nation­al Park Authority’s Mon­it­or­ing Officer.

Quasi-Judi­cial and Reg­u­lat­ory Matters

7.4 In deal­ing with these applic­a­tions, I will: a) Through­out my involve­ment with the entire applic­a­tion pro­cess act fairly and be seen to act fairly. b) Declare interests where required in terms of Sec­tion five of this Code and leave the meet­ing until the mat­ter has been determ­ined. c) Deal fairly and impar­tially with all parties involved in the applic­a­tion. d) Tell those who may be seek­ing to influ­ence me out with the prop­er decision-mak­ing pro­cess that I will not for­mu­late an opin­ion on any par­tic­u­lar applic­a­tion until all inform­a­tion is avail­able to all decision-makers and has been duly con­sidered at the rel­ev­ant meet­ing. e) Take into account pro­fes­sion­al advice giv­en to me by Nation­al Park Author­ity employ­ees. f) Seek advice from the rel­ev­ant Nation­al Park Author­ity employ­ee if I am in doubt as to any mater­i­al or rel­ev­ant considerations.

7.5 In deal­ing with such applic­a­tions, I will not: a) Pre-judge or demon­strate bias or be seen to pre-judge or demon­strate bias. b) Indic­ate or imply sup­port for or oppos­i­tion to an applic­a­tion nor indic­ate my vot­ing inten­tion pri­or to the appro­pri­ate meet­ing where the applic­a­tion will be con­sidered. c) In advance of the decision-mak­ing meet­ing, attempt to influ­ence employ­ees to adopt a par­tic­u­lar pos­i­tion as that would imply that I am pre­ju­diced in my decision-mak­ing. d) Lobby oth­er Board Mem­bers who may be deal­ing with the applic­a­tion. e) Express any view on the applic­a­tion before the appro­pri­ate meet­ing where the applic­a­tion will be con­sidered. If I do so I will not par­ti­cip­ate in any aspect of the decision-mak­ing nor vote on the applic­a­tion. f) For­mu­late my con­clu­sions on an applic­a­tion until all avail­able inform­a­tion is to hand and has been duly con­sidered by me at the meet­ing where the applic­a­tion will be con­sidered. g) Express any indic­at­ive or pro­vi­sion­al views in the course of my involve­ment in any aspect of the applic­a­tion. h) Oth­er­wise act improp­erly or do any­thing which could reas­on­ably cre­ate a per­cep­tion that I have acted improperly.

Policy and Strategy

7.6 My role in policy and stra­tegic issues may have a very wide rel­ev­ance to my nation­al park area. For example, I have a key role in estab­lish­ing policies for the bene­fit of my nation­al parks area and I am fully entitled to express my genu­inely held views or to advoc­ate pro­pos­als for the adop­tion of key guid­ance. It is entirely appro­pri­ate that I can express my views on mat­ters of such gen­er­al import­ance to my nation­al park area.

7.7 When I am being asked to devel­op a policy or feed into any Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plans and / or a Loc­al Devel­op­ment Strategy that forms the frame­work under which indi­vidu­al applic­a­tions may sub­sequently be decided, I under­stand that I can dis­cuss or debate these items of policy or strategy. How­ever, I will only take into account mater­i­al con­sid­er­a­tions affect­ing the policy or stra­tegic issue and will have regard to the require­ment for the adop­tion of the policy or strategy to be based on facts and evid­ence. I under­stand that once a form­al pro­cess around policy or strategy devel­op­ment has star­ted then a quasi-judi­cial or reg­u­lat­ory pro­cess covered by these pro­vi­sions should be assumed to be underway.

7.8 For policy and stra­tegic issues under which indi­vidu­al applic­a­tions may sub­sequently be decided, I will: a) Be able to express my views; b) Be able to advoc­ate pro­pos­als that I con­sider to be of bene­fit to my nation­al park area; c) Have regard to the evid­ence-base behind the for­mu­la­tion of the policy or strategy in question.

I will not: d) Do any­thing or be motiv­ated to do any­thing that is con­nec­ted or linked in any way with my per­son­al involve­ment in a policy or stra­tegic issue; e) Express any view that sug­gests I have a closed mind on the policy or stra­tegic issue regard­less of any mater­i­al con­sid­er­a­tions affect­ing that issue.

Rep­res­ent­a­tion

7.9 If I intend to be involved in the decision-mak­ing for any quasi-judi­cial or reg­u­lat­ory applic­a­tion, I will not: a) Organ­ise sup­port for or oppos­i­tion to the applic­a­tion in any way; b) Rep­res­ent or appear to rep­res­ent indi­vidu­als or groups who are seek­ing to make rep­res­ent­a­tions for or against an applic­a­tion; or c) Com­prom­ise myself or the Nation­al Park Author­ity by cre­at­ing a per­cep­tion of a con­flict of interest.

7.10 In cir­cum­stances where I am a mem­ber of the Board or Com­mit­tee as a decision maker but have been involved in organ­ising sup­port for or oppos­i­tion to an applic­a­tion, I will: a) Declare an interest in the mat­ter, and b) With­draw from the meet­ing without par­ti­cip­at­ing in the con­sid­er­a­tion of the matter.

Site Vis­its

7.11 In respect of any site vis­its that have been decided upon or agreed by the Board or Com­mit­tee as a stage in the con­sid­er­a­tion of the applic­a­tion, I will: a) Fol­low the Nation­al Park Authority’s pro­ced­ures for such vis­its as set out by the Nation­al Park Author­ity and that with regard to any legis­lat­ive require­ments or notes of guid­ance or prac­tice; b) Remem­ber that such site vis­its are part of the decision-mak­ing pro­cess and as such are form­al in nature and may have pro­ced­ures as set out by the Nation­al Park Authority.

Enforce­ment

7.12 In my role, I may become aware wheth­er by com­plaint or by dir­ect know­ledge of the need for Nation­al Park Author­ity inter­ven­tion by way of appro­pri­ate enforce­ment action. In this event, I will refer the mat­ter for invest­ig­a­tion to the appro­pri­ate ser­vice of the Nation­al Park Author­ity. I will also: a) Advise all sub­sequent enquirers to deal dir­ectly with the rel­ev­ant employ­ee of the Nation­al Park Author­ity; b) Be able to request fac­tu­al inform­a­tion about the pro­gress of the mat­ter from the rel­ev­ant employee.

I will not: c) Lobby for a par­tic­u­lar out­come; d) Get involved in the oper­a­tion­al detail of any enforce­ment actions which are sub­sequently taken by the Nation­al Park Authority.

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Annex A: Breaches of the Code

Intro­duc­tion

1. The Eth­ic­al Stand­ards in Pub­lic Life etc. (Scot­land) Act 2000 (“the Act”) provided for a frame­work to encour­age and, where neces­sary, enforce high eth­ic­al stand­ards in pub­lic life.

2. The Act provided for the intro­duc­tion of new codes of con­duct for loc­al author­ity coun­cil­lors and mem­bers of rel­ev­ant pub­lic bod­ies, impos­ing on coun­cils and rel­ev­ant pub­lic bod­ies a duty to help their mem­bers com­ply with the rel­ev­ant code.

3. The Act and the sub­sequent Scot­tish Par­lia­ment­ary Com­mis­sions and Com­mis­sion­ers etc. Act 2010 estab­lished the Stand­ards Com­mis­sion for Scot­land (“Stand­ards Com­mis­sion”) and the post of Com­mis­sion­er for Eth­ic­al Stand­ards in Pub­lic Life in Scot­land (“ESC”).

4. The Stand­ards Com­mis­sion and ESC are sep­ar­ate and inde­pend­ent, each with dis­tinct func­tions. Com­plaints of breaches of a pub­lic body’s Code of Con­duct are invest­ig­ated by the ESC and adju­dic­ated upon by the Stand­ards Commission.

5. The first Mod­el Code of Con­duct came into force in 2002. The Code has since been reviewed and re-issued in 2014. The 2021 Code has been issued by the Scot­tish Min­is­ters fol­low­ing con­sulta­tion, and with the approv­al of the Scot­tish Par­lia­ment, as required by the Act.

Invest­ig­a­tion of Complaints

1. The ESC is respons­ible for invest­ig­at­ing com­plaints about mem­bers of devolved pub­lic bod­ies. It is not, how­ever, man­dat­ory to report a com­plaint about a poten­tial breach of the Code to the ESC. It may be more appro­pri­ate in some cir­cum­stances for attempts to be made to resolve the mat­ter inform­ally at a loc­al level.

2. On con­clu­sion of the invest­ig­a­tion, the ESC will send a report to the Stand­ards Commission.

Hear­ings

1. On receipt of a report from the ESC, the Stand­ards Com­mis­sion can choose to: • Do noth­ing; • Dir­ect the ESC to carry out fur­ther invest­ig­a­tions; or • Hold a Hearing.

2. Hear­ings are held (usu­ally in pub­lic) to determ­ine wheth­er the mem­ber con­cerned has breached their pub­lic body’s Code of Con­duct. The Hear­ing Pan­el com­prises of three mem­bers of the Stand­ards Com­mis­sion. The ESC will present evid­ence and/​or make sub­mis­sions at the Hear­ing about the invest­ig­a­tion and any con­clu­sions as to wheth­er the mem­ber has con­tra­vened the Code. The mem­ber is entitled to attend or be rep­res­en­ted at the Hear­ing and can also present evid­ence and make sub­mis­sions. Both parties can call wit­nesses. Once it has heard all the evid­ence and sub­mis­sions, the Hear­ing Pan­el will make a determ­in­a­tion about wheth­er or not it is sat­is­fied, on the bal­ance of prob­ab­il­it­ies, that there has been a con­tra­ven­tion of the Code by the mem­ber. If the Hear­ing Pan­el decides that a mem­ber has breached their pub­lic body’s Code, it is obliged to impose a sanction.

Sanc­tions

1. The sanc­tions that can be imposed fol­low­ing a find­ing of a breach of the Code are as fol­lows: e) Cen­sure — A cen­sure is a form­al record of the Stand­ards Commission’s severe and pub­lic dis­ap­prov­al of the mem­ber con­cerned. f) Sus­pen­sion — This can be a full or par­tial sus­pen­sion (for up to one year). A full sus­pen­sion means that the mem­ber is sus­pen­ded from attend­ing all meet­ings of the pub­lic body. Par­tial sus­pen­sion means that the mem­ber is sus­pen­ded from attend­ing some of the meet­ings of the pub­lic body. The Com­mis­sion can dir­ect that any remu­ner­a­tion or allow­ance the mem­ber receives as a res­ult of their mem­ber­ship of the pub­lic body be reduced or not paid dur­ing a peri­od of sus­pen­sion. g) Dis­qual­i­fic­a­tion — Dis­qual­i­fic­a­tion means that the mem­ber is removed from mem­ber­ship of the body and dis­qual­i­fied (for a peri­od not exceed­ing five years), from mem­ber­ship of the body. Where a mem­ber is also a mem­ber of anoth­er devolved pub­lic body (as defined in the Act), the Com­mis­sion may also remove or dis­qual­i­fy that per­son in respect of that mem­ber­ship. Full details of the sanc­tions are set out in sec­tion 19 of the Act.

Inter­im Suspensions

1. Sec­tion 21 of the Act provides the Stand­ards Com­mis­sion with the power to impose an inter­im sus­pen­sion on a mem­ber on receipt of an inter­im report from the ESC about an ongo­ing invest­ig­a­tion. In mak­ing a decision about wheth­er or not to impose an inter­im sus­pen­sion, a Pan­el com­pris­ing of three Mem­bers of the Stand­ards Com­mis­sion will review the inter­im report and any rep­res­ent­a­tions received from the mem­ber and will con­sider wheth­er it is sat­is­fied: h) That the fur­ther con­duct of the ESC’s invest­ig­a­tion is likely to be pre­ju­diced if such an action is not taken (for example if there are con­cerns that the mem­ber may try to inter­fere with evid­ence or wit­nesses); or j) That