FM ‘not aware’ of any ‘don’t be alone with Alex Salmond’ advice
Sturgeon pressed over complaints
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 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, Evans said she could not comment on claims that female civil servants were advised not to be alone with the former first minister.
At First Minister’s Questions, Tory Murdo Fraser asked if Sturgeon was “herself aware of female civil servants being given that advice?”
She said: “No, I wasn’t.” While committee convener SNP MSP Linda Fabiani prohibited further questioning on the issue on Tuesday, Sturgeon said the matter was “something the committee itself is perfectly entitled itself to take up”.
She added that Evans was “happy to write to the committee to address this issue, if the committee wishes”.
Fraser said the Permanent Secretary “must now return to the Holyrood inquiry at the first opportunity and tell us the whole truth”.
Fabiani said: “It may well be that we can invite the Permanent Secretary to give evidence in writing on the matter, or indeed that the matter can be raised again if she comes back to speak to this committee.”
Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie noted that Sturgeon had previously pledged to “co-operate fully” with the Holyrood inquiry.
She added: “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.”