SNP minister Ewing says sorry after allegations of bullying

He apologises for ‘forthright’ attitude in dealing with staff

A SENIOR SNP cabinet secretary has apologised for his “forthright” attitude after a bullying allegation.

Fergus Ewing admitted he’d said sorry, days after the Government refused to confirm he was the minister involved.

In a statement to the Record last night, Ewing said: “I am aware that – on occasion – I can be forthright in the way I represent my views.

“When this specific issue was raised with me, I apologised personally to the individual concerned.

“Going forward, I will continue to ensure I maintain the high standards that are rightly expected of a Government minister.”

On Tuesday, it emerged Ewing was the subject of a complaint resolved informally under government guidance.

It’s understood the allegation followed a meeting where a number of people were present.

The complaint process was different to the formal route taken against former First Minister Alex Salmond, who denies any wrongdoing and is taking the Government to court. Two complaints have been made along the formal route, both against Salmond.

There is also a process where concerns can be raised and matters resolved by agreement.

Ewing has been a fixture in the Government since 2007, under Salmond as a minister and as cabinet secretary for rural economy in Nicola Sturgeon’s administration.

Last week, the Government revealed seven claims of staff bullying or harassment were under investigation.

The Record revealed this month that wider “bullying” concerns within government had been raised by trade unions almost a decade ago, when Salmond was in charge.

A new procedure to deal with claims of bullying, called the Fairness at Work policy, was introduced in 2010.

A senior trade union source told the Record the procedure was put in place because of concerns about ministerial behaviour.

They added: “A number of union reps had all heard the same thing from different sources, so we were taking it very seriously because it was clearly a problem.”

Documents released under freedom of information revealed unions had told government bosses there had been a history of “bad behaviour” from ministers in the Scottish Government, previous Labour-Lib Dem Scottish Executive and the UK Government-run Scotland Office.