The Scotsman

Sexual harassment probe was ‘right thing to do’, says Scotland’s leading civil servant

- Gina Davidson

Scotland’s top civil servant has told MSPS the Scottish Government “did not take the easy path, but the right one” in developing its policy on how to handle harassment complaints against current and former ministers, and that investigat­ing historic allegation­s against former first minister Alex Salmond was “the right thing to do”.

Leslie Evans, the Scottish Government’s Permanent Secretary, told MSPS that it would have been “unconscion­able” and “a failure in our duty of care” if historic complaints, once raised, had not been investigat­ed.

However, she said the judicial review, won by Mr Salmond with a cost to taxpayers of £512,000 and an admittance the procedure had been “unfair”, had revealed that “one part of the procedure should have been applied differentl­y”. Ms Evans said: “I apologise unreserved­ly to all concerned for this procedural failure.”

Ms Evans was giving evidence yesterday to the Scottish Parliament’s specially-convened Committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints, as the first witness in its debut meeting.

The committee was establishe­d after Mr Salmond took the government to court over its handling of the complaint against him, to investigat­e what had gone wrong.

In her opening statement, Ms Evans said she was giving evidence “on behalf of ministers and not in a personal capacity”.

She said the procedure was drafted between October and December 2017 as part of a

“journey of cultural change” to make the government “more open, capable and responsive.”

“As Permanent Secretary, I have led a focus on equality, inclusion and wellbeing, including addressing bullying and harassment,” she said. “Every single one of us has a right to a safe workplace, free from harassment. The Scottish Government recognises this as a legal responsibi­lity and a duty of care to all employees – to create a culture where such behaviours are simply not tolerated.”

She said the #Metoo movement of historic sexual harassment added an “additional momentum” to her programme of work to improve the Scottish Government’s Fairness at Work policies, and that she was commisione­d to review procedures by Scottish ministers, as well as the-then Cabinet Secretary and Head of the UK Civil Service Sir Jeremy Heywood.

“The Scottish Government’s response to that review, in line with wider work, was to challenge a ‘say nothing’ culture,” she said. “To give staff – all staff from any part of the organisati­on – confidence that concerns and complaints could be brought forward and would be addressed.

“Having considered the relevant policies, it was concluded that to address an identified gap, and to clarify existing provision, a procedure to investigat­e complaints of harassment should be developed for former and current ministers.

“The Scottish Government remains ahead of many other institutio­ns in designing and implementi­ng such a procedure – openly and transparen­tly – and particular­ly one to address historical allegation­s of sexual misconduct. We did not shirk our responsibi­lity.”

Ms Evans defended the process of developing the procedure as an “extensive and iterative profession­al drafting process” that was informed by legal advice and followed HR best practice.

She said: “When complaints were raised it would have been unconscion­able, and a failure in our duty of care, not to investigat­e those complaints. However, it was accepted at judicial review that one part of our procedure should have been applied differentl­y. I apologise unreserved­ly to all concerned for this procedural failure.

“We have already learned early lessons from this experience as part of work being led by our People Directorat­e. And we also await the findings of the review which I commission­ed, externally led by Laura Dunlop QC, now under way.”

“The Scottish Government remains ahead of many other institutio­ns in designing and implementi­ng such a procedure ...”

LESLIE EVANS

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