Commentary on Sections

Part 1 – the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission

Section 13: Services complaints: reports

33.The Commission may, if it considers it appropriate to do so, publish reports on services complaints which have reached a conclusion and their outcomes. The Commission may also publish reports of mediation where the mediation has been successful. Such reports may be helpful in informing practitioners and the public about how the Commission handles key issues, and in highlighting to practitioners matters which may give rise to complaints. The Commission is not permitted to identify the complainer or the practitioner in such a report without his or her consent. It will however be possible to name the practitioner without consent if the case is an exceptional one and the Commission believes it is in the public interest for the practitioner to be identified. The Commission must give the practitioner at least 4 weeks notice of the intention to publicise its decision, specifying the reasons for its decision.