Police boss admits being ‘too busy’ to tackle crisis
‘Full, unreserved apology’
THE boss of Scotland’s crisisstricken police watchdog yesterday admitted he was too busy doing other jobs to sort out the chaos at his quango.
Andrew Flanagan refused to quit despite a public grilling by members of Holyrood’s justice subcommittee on policing, where he came under intense pressure to resign.
But the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) chairman has sent a grovelling email apology to ex-board member Moi Ali, who had accused him of bullying her out of her job – and who had threatened legal action against the SPA unless he apologised by the end of this week.
Mr Flanagan also revealed he had spoken to Justice Secretary Michael Matheson by phone, but claimed they had not discussed ‘in detail’ a letter from Holyrood’s public audit committee last Friday, condemning Mr Flanagan’s ‘unacceptable’ behaviour.
Mr Matheson refused to answer questions about the saga yesterday.
Last night, Scottish Tory justice spokesman Douglas Ross said: ‘Andrew Flanagan’s time must surely be up... If he won’t walk, the Scottish Government should consider taking action.’
At the committee yesterday, former transport minister Stewart Stevenson suggested Mr Flanagan should quit.
The SPA chief accepted there had been ‘reputational damage to the SPA’ and promised to hold meetings in public again.
Mr Flanagan has also come under fire for failing to pass on to board members a letter from Derek Penman, HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS), questioning governance arrangements and some meetings being held in private. Yesterday, the SPA chairman said he had contacted Mr Penman to discuss concerns late on a Friday last December, but did not pursue the matter.
Mr Flanagan said: ‘I was not working for the SPA, I have other organisations I work for.’
According to the SPA website, he is on the Civil Service Commission, NHS Business Services Authority, London-based NEL Commissioning Support Unit, and the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority. For all these posts, he earns up to £75,000 a year. As SPA chairman, he is likely to earn £70,000 a year.
Much of the controversy centres around a letter from Mr Flanagan to Miss Ali, who quit the SPA board this year.
She publicly objected to holding meetings in private and Mr Flanagan suggested it would not be fair for her to keep attending meetings – a move she described as ‘bullying’. Yesterday he told MSPs he had sent Miss Ali ‘my full and unreserved’ apology. He said this had been written ‘on Tuesday or so’ but Miss Ali stated on social media she received the email just over an hour before he faced MSPs.
Last night, she said: ‘If openness and transparency are so important to the Scottish Government, why [do] they allow someone who has very different standards of openness and transparency to run one of the biggest and most important boards?’ She welcomed the apology but said it could be ‘a cynical attempt to try to take some heat out of the situation’.
The Scottish Government said HMICS had been asked to bring forward part of its planned statutory inspection into the SPA.