Top official’s attack on Swinney reforms ‘withheld’

A SERIES of proposed education reforms by the SNP has been savaged by the head of an influential quango.

But the letter containing the criticism of Education Secretary John Swinney was withheld from a freedom of information (FOI) campaigner for three months, sparking a secrecy row.

Anna Fowlie was chief executive of the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) when she attacked Mr Swinney’s handling of a consultation. She also criticised his officials for suggesting nursery staff had failed to upgrade their skills – which she said was ‘extremely unhelpful’ and ‘isn’t true’.

A campaigner for government transparency had asked for information about SNP education reforms using FOI laws.

But the critical letter was left out of the official response – and only sent to the campaigner three months later. The Scottish Government said it was an unintentional blunder.

But last night there was concern that officials had tried to withhold the letter because it criticised Mr Swinney. Mrs Fowlie’s letter last November attacked SNP moves to shift the regulation of nursery workers to a new body, the Education Workforce Council, saying ‘how badly this has been handled’ and ‘how taken aback I am by the content and language’ of the consultation document.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘There was clearly an error in the handling of this FOI. As soon as this was spotted, officials informed the requester and issued the relevant documents to him.’