Treasury intervention gives the lie to claim of civil service impartiality

Rev Dr John Cameron, 10 Howard Place, St Andrews. I CANNOT let go unchallenged the statement from Dave Penman, secretary of the FDA, the union for senior civil servants that there is no evidence of civil service partiality during the independence referendum (Letters, January 17) .

The Public Administration Select Committee concluded that the civil service impartiality had been compromised by information released for “partisan purposes”.

Sir Nicholas MacPherson, Permanent Secretary to the Treasury and its most senior official, stated that impartiality guidelines do not apply in “extreme” cases like the independence referendum.

He stated publicly that “Her Majesty’s Treasury is by nature a Unionist institution. The clue is in the name”. His report, scathing of the economic effects of independence, was deliberately released to influence voters. In a separate attack, the Treasury released figures which were critical of Scotland’s anti-austerity programme.

In other words, the civil service will try to appear impartial except when it suits its determination to maintain the status quo.

This shameful attempt to undermine the referendum, attested by a committee of MPs, lays bare the false claim that the civil service is in any way impartial. Alice Watt,

70 Newton Street, Greenock.

MINUTING of meetings is very – even critically – important. So important that the worldly-wise late Lord “the Blessed Arnold” Goodman said something like “I care not how the meeting goes, so long as I can write the minutes”. Professor Ian Brown,

34 Dalmeny Avenue,

Giffnock.