NEW DEMAND OVER SARGEANT LEAK REPORT
THE Welsh Government’s top civil servant will this week face the possibility of a criminal charge being brought against her if an opposition motion is passed that orders her to publish a report into allegations that news of Carl Sargeant’s sacking was leaked in advance.
In February a motion was passed which called on Permanent Secretary Dame Shan Morgan to publish the report, with names redacted, but she has so far refused to do so.
Mr Sargeant is believed to have taken his own life last November, four days after being removed from his post as Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children, after unspecified complaints that he had sexually harassed a number of women.
There was widespread speculation in advance of the Cabinet reshuffle in which Mr Sargeant was sacked.
Llanelli Labour AM Lee Waters has confirmed that he was told of the dismissal before it happened.
Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies told the Senedd there were multiple indications that people outside the Welsh Government knew details of the reshuffle before it was announced. He said a journalist had tweeted about it, and that there was evidence an employee of lobbying company Deryn had told journalists Mr Sargeant would be removed from his post. He added that there was also evidence some MPs were told about it in advance.
A Welsh Government inquiry, however, concluded there had been no “prior unauthorised disclosure”, leading to speculation that any disclosure was authorised.
The Welsh Conservatives are now seeking to use powers available to the National Assembly under the Government of Wales Act 2006.
This week, when AMs return to the Senedd following the Easter recess, they will debate a motion proposed by the Welsh Conservatives that, if passed, would order Dame Shan to release the report in line with Section 37 of the Act. If she continued to defy the will of the Assembly, she could face trial, with a maximum penalty, if found guilty, of a £5,000 fine, 51 weeks’ imprisonment or both.
A defence open to her would be to argue that there were reasonable grounds for refusing to produce the report. Previously, Dame Shan has argued that publishing the report – even with names redacted – would risk identifying one of the complainants against Mr Sargeant and would deter people from giving evidence to any future leak inquiries.
Explaining why his party had put down the new motion, Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies said: “The will of the National Assembly has been very clear when it comes to publishing the leak inquiry report, but regrettably the First Minister and the Welsh Government continue to ignore it. Sadly, we’ve been left with no other option but to pursue the legal route so we can ensure the democratic process is respected. Various comments by a number of individuals indicate information regarding last November’s reshuffle was shared with people outside of government prior to ministers themselves being informed, and there has been no satisfactory explanation, to date, as to how this happened.
“If there is nothing to hide then there is no reason why a redacted version of the report, protecting the identity of witnesses, cannot be published.
“If the Assembly backs the motion, the Welsh Government would be in breach of the law if they continued to withhold the report, and to do so would leave our democracy in dangerous territory.”
The Conservatives have decided to use opposition debating time to propose the motion.
Last month they intended to propose such a motion for debate in time controlled by the Assembly’s crossparty Business Committee, but were beaten to it by Independent AM Neil McEvoy, who was recently expelled by Plaid Cymru. At least one Plaid AM indicated they would be uncomfortable backing a motion proposed by Mr McEvoy. They are likely to be more inclined to back a motion moved by the Welsh Conservatives.
All Labour AMs abstained when the earlier motion on publishing the report was debated in February. It was passed with the support of Tory, Plaid and Ukip AMs. The Labour group will decide its position on the latest motion at a meeting early this week.