Redress Scotland
Section 3: Establishment
6.Section 3(1) provides for the creation of a new body to be known as ‘Redress Scotland’. The Gaelic name Ceartaich Alba has equal legal status.
7.Subsection (2) states that it is a body corporate. This means that it has a legal personality separate from that of the people who comprise it.
8.Subsection (3) provides that Redress Scotland has the functions conferred on it under or by virtue of this Act and any other enactment.
Section 4: Status
9.Section 4(1) provides that Redress Scotland is not a servant or agent of the Crown. The Crown, which for this purpose broadly means the executive branch of government, enjoys certain privileges and immunities in law. Redress Scotland is not to be regarded as a government body and therefore none of the particular legal rules that apply to government bodies apply to it.
10.Subsection (2) states that Redress Scotland’s members and staff are not to be regarded as civil servants. This means that none of the statutes that make provision about the civil service (see, for example, Part 1 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010) apply to the people who comprise, and work for, Redress Scotland.
Section 5: Membership, procedures and powers etc.
11.Section 5 introduces schedule 1 to the Act, which makes provision about the membership, staff, procedures, powers and duties of Redress Scotland. It also modifies some legislation which applies to public bodies so as to apply those rules to Redress Scotland. Further notes on schedule 1 are given in paragraphs 317 to 344 of these Notes.
Section 6: Independence
12.Section 6 provides that in performing its functions under the Act, Redress Scotland is not subject to the direction or control of any member of the Scottish Government (subject to any contrary statutory provision). This is to ensure its operational independence in relation to the exercise of those functions.
