The story of the Scottish Parliament is evolving all of the time and every member of staff has a contribution to make in the writing of our history. From the Parliament’s founding following a referendum and the 1998 Scotland Act– “There shall be a Scottish Parliament.” – to the additional powers conferred by the 2012 and 2016 Scotland Acts; and the constitutional questions arising through Brexit, the on-going process of change and reform offers an exciting backdrop to our work at Holyrood.

Improving the capability of the Parliament and ensuring it remains outward looking and in touch with all the people that it represents is at the heart of our work as a parliamentary service, and it’s vital that we strive to provide the highest possible level of service at all times. We place high value on excellence and we are continually looking to improve how we work to ensure that we can deliver the Parliament's core purpose of representing the people of Scotland by debating issues of national importance, passing legislation and holding the Scottish Government to account.

Our Organisation

The parliamentary service is a high-achieving and professional organisation. We are not civil servants; we provide impartial support to the Parliament and its Members. The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body is responsible for providing the Parliament with the property, staff and services required for the Parliament’s purposes, in accordance with the Scotland Act 1998.

We aim to provide Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) with high quality support to allow them to excel in their roles as parliamentarians and representatives.

We want to constantly improve our performance, invest in our staff and plan for the future and deliver excellent resource management in line with our organisational values. Recruitment decisions, if made properly, can have a significant impact upon organisational capability and capacity. Having a strategic, professional approach to recruitment is essential in order to achieve this.

For more information about the makeup of the Parliament, you can view the organisational chart and read about the Parliamentary Offices.

MSPs

MSPs are employers in their own right. They employ small teams of staff to support them in carrying out their parliamentary duties and typical roles include administration, research or casework. Jobs can be based in Holyrood or in local constituency offices across Scotland. More information about working for an MSP can be found in individual job adverts.

Our Vision

The underlying goal of all our work is to make a positive difference to the lives of the people of Scotland. We’re committed to improving the way in which we involve people in our work. This means putting people at the centre of everything we do. Our approach requires each of us to value people with different backgrounds, perspectives and experiences and demonstrate this commitment in our daily activities.

Our Values

We don’t focus simply on what we do; we also take pride in how we do it. Our core values help to provide clarity about our common purpose and priorities:

  • Stewardship
  • Inclusiveness
  • Excellence and
  • Respect

Each of our values are underpinned by a number of linked behaviours and our values and behaviours framework represents the expectations we have of ourselves and each other, guiding our interactions and day-to-day decisions. They include the personal skills and attributes we bring to our roles, which when combined with our skills and knowledge; enable us to be successful in our roles.

Our values are a central part of our working culture and our people management processes and are used to recruit, manage and develop our staff. For more on our values and behaviours framework, please visit our Staff Handbook site.

We are honest, open and recognise the expertise we each bring to the organisation. We celebrate and reward people who demonstrate our culture. We also hold each other to account when we see behaviour that does not support our values.

We value the diversity of our colleagues. We trust and support our teams to do their job and to take responsibility for their work. We collaborate, share knowledge and support each other. We’re open to testing new ideas and challenging the way we do things.

We celebrate success and learn from mistakes.

When applying for roles with us, we strongly encourage you to familiarise yourself with our values and behaviours as we will frame some of our interview questions around these.