Consultation
The first consultation informed the decisions about what the key functions of the Commission should be.
Those functions are as follows:
- Promotion, education and awareness-raising
- Guidance to public authorities
- Advising the Scottish Parliament on legislation after introduction
- General monitoring and reporting in relation to law and practice
- Investigating and reporting on generic or sectoral human rights issues in relation to public policy
A second consultation was held in early 2003. Launching it, the Deputy First Minister said:
"Our proposals cover the three main building blocks of the Commission - its remit, its functions, and its structure.
"While the remit will cover devolved matters only, this has immense potential for change in our society in Scotland.
"The Commission will be able to tackle matters relating to our health, our education, our environment. It will have the ability to hold both Government and our public authorities to account. I sincerely hope it will help move the emphasis away from the court room to working to achieving a better Scotland for all."
"The Commission we propose will be a balanced Commission. It will have a strong educational and awareness raising role coupled with an investigatory role backed up by powers to ensure those investigations can be effective.
"I know that many of those who have led the campaign for a Commission will welcome the statutory access to information powers this new public body will have.
"I envisage that the Commission's investigations will examine practices and policies in Scottish society about which concerns have been expressed. Its role will be to investigate generic and sectoral human rights issues rather than individual complaints.
"Investigations are likely to be high profile and public. We recommend that the Commission should publish a report after their investigations are completed and that the body that has been investigated be required to give a written response to the Commission within a set time limit. These responses should also be public.
"The Commission will be established as an independent body. To ensure its independence, and more importantly to ensure that it is perceived as independent, we have proposed that the Commission should not be accountable to Scottish ministers but to the Scottish Parliament directly."
The consultation paper also contains a range of proposals in relation to membership, appointments and funding.
Responses to the consultation were received in 2003 and the analysis of the responses was published in 2004.