The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
FM ‘unaware’ of Salmond advice to civil servants
Sturgeon underlines her commitment to ‘fully comply’ with inquiry
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said she was not aware of female civil servants being advised not be alone with her predecessor Alex Salmond.
But she said MSPs probing the Scottish Government’s handling of sexual harassment allegations made against the former first minster were “perfectly entitled” to take up this issue.
She vowed she herself was “absolutely committed to fully complying with the inquiry”.
Her comments came after concerns were raised about “huge swathes” of information provided by the Scottish Government being “heavily redacted”.
The first minister was pressed on the issue after the Committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints held its first evidence session on Tuesday – with the country’s most senior civil servant, Permanent Secretary Leslie Evans, being questioned under oath.
At that hearing, Ms Evans said she could not comment on claims that female civil servants were advised not to be alone with the former first minister.
Raising the issue at First Minister’s Questions, Tory Murdo Fraser asked if Ms Sturgeon was “herself aware of female civil servants being given that advice?”
She told him: “No, I wasn’t.” While committee convener SNP MSP Linda Fabiani prohibited further questioning on the issue on Tuesday, Ms Sturgeon said the matter was “something the committee itself is perfectly entitled to take up”.
She added that Ms Evans was “happy to write to the committee to address this issue, if the committee wishes”.
Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie noted that Ms Sturgeon had previously pledged to “co-operate fully” with the Holyrood inquiry – which was launched after the Court of Session ruled the way the government dealt with the complaints was “unlawful”.
Ms Baillie said: “Given that swathes of documents are heavily redacted and the Scottish Government is refusing access to key documents relating to the core of the inquiry’s remit, I hope the first minister will want to stand by her earlier commitment.”
She called on Ms Sturgeon to “instruct the full co-operation that is currently missing from the Scottish Government”.
The first minister said: “I am absolutely committed to fully complying with the inquiry.
“I will personally attend the committee to answer questions when I am asked to do so.”
Ms Sturgeon continued: “The government will continue to fully co-operate, I am sure, and within the legal obligations that the Government operates under make available the maximum amount of information that it can to the committee.”