The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Evans willing to discuss ‘warning’
Scotland’s most senior civil servant has said she is “very willing” to discuss whether female civil servants were told not to be alone in Alex Salmond’s company, as she faces pressure to reappear in front of a committee inquiry.
Leslie Evans, permanent secretary to the Scottish Government, appeared before the committee on the Scottish Government handling of harassment complaints last week.
The committee and its inquiry was set up after the Court of Session ruled an investigation into allegations about Mr Salmond was unlawful and ordered the Scottish Government to pay him £512,250.
While being questioned, Ms Evans was asked if she was aware of the alleged warning to female civil servants.
However, due to restrictions of the committee, she said she could not comment on claims that female civil servants were advised not to be alone with the former first minister.
In an open letter to committee convener SNP MSP Linda Fabiani, Ms Evans said she would take the opportunity to clarify her answer to the question, and Ms Fabiani’s decision not to allow further questioning.
She said: “I fully appreciate you will have had reasons, based on the committee’s remit and the various legal restrictions in place, for disallowing that line of questioning.
“However, I would like to make clear that – contrary to some media reports – I am very willing to write to the committee to address this issue.”
Lib Dem MSP Alex Cole-hamilton, Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie and Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser – who originally asked the question of the permanent secretary – later wrote to the convener saying they believed the questions should have been answered, asking to be allowed to “go where the evidence takes us”.
Ms Fabiani ruled the question was not part of the remit of the committee, saying the inquiry was to look into the culture of the Scottish Government and not “individual cases or the behaviour of individuals”.
Mr Fraser said in response to the permanent secretary’s letter: “Leslie Evans has certainly changed her tune since she refused to answer my question last week.
“It appears that pressure from the Scottish Conservatives and the Scottish public have convinced the SNP Government that they need to be far more honest and upfront about what they knew and when.
“But we don’t need Leslie Evans to merely write to the committee.
“Given her attempt to dodge the question at the first time of asking, it is only right that she now appears before the inquiry again, as soon as possible, to face the scrutiny she avoided the first time.
“There can be no hiding place behind a letter for Ms Evans on a matter as serious as when she knew about claims that female civil servants were not allowed to be alone with Alex Salmond.”