ScotGov Complaints and Investigations

I complained to the First Minister about the behaviour of her justice secretary, Humza Yousaf, on social media.

The First Minister's private office rejected my compliant out of hand without giving any reasons other than "the contents of private accounts are not the responsibility of the Scottish Government".

Now I don't accept this specious answer because Humza's Tweets made made during normal working hours and were made via a device paid for by the taxpayer.

Not only that, but senior ministers are paid generous public salaries in excess of £100,000 a year - part of their job is to lead by example and, in my opinion, they are never completely 'off duty'.

So I'm going to take matters further - I asked the Scottish Government to explain the process under which my complaint was considered although they haven't come back to me, as yet.

Here's what the official ScotGov web site says, but I've never been told who was dealing with my complaint - nor did they respond within five working days.

As far as I can see this means we are now at Stage 2 of the procedure which requires the Scottish Government to appoint an Investigating Officer who is required to prepare a comprehensive report. 

Sounds good to me because I fail to see how anyone thinks it's perfectly OK for a highly paid public official to behave like an idiot on social media, so long as they use a personal account - even if they're accessing that personal account during working hours and using Scottish Government property.

     

Make a complaint

If something goes wrong or you are dissatisfied with our service, please tell us. We will work with you to resolve it.

What you can complain about

You can complain about things like:

• delays in responding to your enquiries and requests
• failure to provide a service
• our standard of service
• our policy
• treatment by, or attitude of, a member of staff
• our failure to follow proper procedure

Your complaint may involve more than one service or be about someone working on our behalf.

There are some things we can't deal with through our complaints handling procedure.

These include:

• a routine first-time request for a service, for example, local services, transport, housing, health provision
• requests for compensation from external organisations
• things that are covered by a right of appeal, for example, planning and related appeal decisions
• Freedom of Information or Environmental Information request decisions
• legal proceedings or judgements

If other procedures or rights of appeal can help you resolve your concerns, we will give information and advice to help you.

Get help to make a complaint

Anyone can make a complaint to us, including the representatives of someone who is dissatisfied with our service.

There may be reasons why you are unable, or reluctant, to make a complaint yourself. We can take complaints from a friend, relative, or an advocate, if you have given them your consent to complain for you.

You can find out about advocates in your area by contacting the Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance.

Timescales to complain

Normally, you must make your complaint within six months of the event.

However, if you do not find out that you have a reason to complain until later, you can lodge a complaint up to 12 months after the event itself.

In exceptional circumstances we may be able to accept a complaint after the time limit. If you feel that the time limit should not apply to your complaint, please tell us why.

What happens when you complain

We will always tell you who is dealing with your complaint.

Our complaints handling procedure has three stages.

1. How to complain: frontline resolution

Contact staff in the area responsible for the service which has caused you concern.

You can find the right person to talk to by:

• checking our list of contact points
• emailing sgcomplaints@gov.scot
• writing to Scottish Government, Complaints, 1E.10, St Andrew's House, Edinburgh, EH1 3DG

We aim to resolve your complaint informally within five working days.

If we can't resolve the issue, you can take your complaint to stage two of the complaints procedure.

2. If you are not satisfied: investigation

An Investigating Officer will be appointed to prepare a comprehensive report and, if we have got things wrong, will recommend improvements.

We will:

• acknowledge receipt of your complaint within three working days
• where appropriate, discuss the complaint with you to understand why you remain dissatisfied and what outcome you are looking for
• give you a full response as soon as possible and within 20 working days

We will tell you if our investigation will take longer and will agree revised time limits with you.

After we have fully investigated and you remain dissatisfied, you then have the option of asking the Scottish Public Service Ombudsman (SPSO) to investigate your complaint.

3. Independent investigation of your complaint: ombudsman

The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) is the final stage for complaints about public services in Scotland and may be able to independently take up a complaint on your behalf.

The Ombudsman will normally only be able to act if you have followed the steps above.

To find out about the Ombudsman's work, visit the Scottish Public Services Ombudsmanwebsite, or write to the office at: Freepost SPSO (this is all you need write on the envelope, and you do not need to use a stamp).