‘Bullying culture’ STILL at heart of SNP government
30 top mandarins in harassment claims against ministers, with Holyrood ‘worst in UK’, inquiry told
A CULTURE of bullying against civil servants has not been stamped out by Nicola Sturgeon’s Government, union bosses have claimed.
Despite a new harassment policy being signed off by the First Minister three years ago, fears remain over an oppressive culture.
The FDA union’s general secretary, Dave Penman, yesterday revealed that 30 senior civil servants had reported problems with at least five ministerial offices over the past decade – but warned there could be more as there was a reluctance among workers to report issues.
He said this was ‘quite extraordinary’ and ‘dramatic’ compared to all other parts of the UK, signalling there could be a cultural problem within Holyrood.
Mr Penman was giving evidence to the parliament committee investigating the Government’s botched handling of complaints against Alex Salmond.
The inquiry was set up after the Court of Session ruled a probe into complaints made by two women had been ‘tainted by apparent bias’, with the former First Minister awarded more than £500,000 in taxpayers’ cash.
In a written statement, which was submitted last month, the FDA said concerns had been raised about bullying from Mr Salmond’s office.
Yesterday, Mr Penman said bullying was a ‘cultural issue’ for the Scottish Government, reaching far further than allegations against Mr Salmond.
MSPs are investigating the development of a new harassment policy introduced by the Government in 2018. It allowed complaints to be made against former ministers as well as those in office.
The policy, signed off by Miss Sturgeon, is unique in the UK, with only Scotland having such a procedure. But Mr Penman claimed it had failed to change behaviours of those in powerful positions. He said: ‘This is the only part of the UK civil service that’s had a meaningful process for investigating it, yet seems to have significantly more concerns about ministerial behaviour.
‘You’d say, “Why is it the case where the one place where people can raise concerns, it doesn’t seem to be changing behaviours?”, which is part of the point of these sort of processes, about stopping people being bullied in the first place rather than just catching them out. That’s an issue about culture.’
Mr Penman said the FDA would ‘not say that people still have confidence’ in the complaints process.
He added: ‘The issues we talk about are not historical, they’re current in relation to this, and therefore can only be a failure of how that policy has been applied. The issues we are talking about are extant in relation to the issues of conduct of ministers.’
Last week, former Permanent Secretary Sir Peter Housden said he had dealt with inappropriate behaviour from SNP ministers in a ‘number of settings’ between 2010 and 2015. Mr Penman yesterday claimed that there was ‘a concern about whether people felt that issues would be addressed and whether they felt they could raise those sorts of complaints’.
He added: ‘Clearly, those in positions of management in the Scottish Government, as we’ve seen from evidence... were aware of some of that.’
In previous committee sessions, current Permanent Secretary Leslie Evans said she had become aware of concerns regarding Mr Salmond’s behaviour in November 2017.
One of the country’s most senior civil servants, James Hynd, said he had also heard concerns, claiming it was ‘rumour’.
Mr Penman said ‘30 individuals over a decade’ had raised concerns over bullying with the FDA. He said not all had become official complaints.
He added: ‘If you look at the number that we’re talking about over a decade, it seems to me people in the Scottish Government were probably aware.’
Mr Salmond was acquitted of 13 sexual assault charges, including attempted rape, at a trial in March.