Law chief’s grievance admission

The chief executive of Scotland’s legal aid body has told employees he can’t guarantee grievances against bosses will be treated confidentially.

Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) chief Colin Lancaster made the startling admission in an email about a solicitor whose complaint was mishandled.

In the Sunday Mail two weeks ago, Ceri Evans, 34, told how her career had been left in tatters because SLAB mishandled her bullying complaint.

She had provided a diary of alleged incidents in support of another woman raising a grievance against the same senior solicitor, Stuart Hamilton. But SLAB gave the diary to Hamilton without informing Ceri.

In an email to staff, Lancaster said conf idential ity was not guaranteed. He told colleagues: “We submitted to the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Off ice) that our grievance procedure makes clear that while confidentiality of the process is paramount, it cannot be guaranteed between those involved in any grievance.

“As we told the Sunday Mail, ‘It is essential to ensure the fairness of our grievance procedures that all parties are aware of the issues and details of any complaint.’ The Mail did not publish that partt of our statement.

“It is important you ou know the ICO didn’t tell ell us we shouldn’t have ve shared the information. n. The only failing they y identi f ied was we e didn’t tell Ceri we had d shared it.”

But the ICO findings also highlighted that SLAB had taken several months to confirm whether information hahad been shared. MSP Monica Lennon said: sa “As Ceri’s MSP, I’ll cconto i nue to seek answers an over the way in which wh the investigation into her allegations has bee been handled.” SL SLAB said: “We fully accept acce the ICO decision that our processes should have made clear what infor information would be share shared and when.”