Mundell challenges civil service boss over role of Evans in Salmond probe

A SENIOR Scottish Conservative MP has challenged the Scottish Permanent Secretary’s manager over whether he is satisfied with her performance during the Salmond saga.

David Mundell was questioning Simon Case, head of the civil service and line manager to Leslie Evans, during a parliamentary committee hearing yesterday.

Ms Evans, Scotland’s most senior civil servant, has come under fire from MSPS investigating the bungled probe into allegations of sexual harassment against Alex Salmond, and the subsequent judicial review.

In a report, MSPS accused Ms Evans of an “individual failing” over the Government’s response to Mr Salmond’s judicial review, and said “multiple roles being fulfilled by the Permanent Secretary during the complaints process should have been seen as a risk”.

Mr Case said that while mistakes had been made, Ms Evans had “apologised”.

Mr Mundell, former Secretary of State for Scotland, asked Mr Case if, looking at all the evidence involved in the civil and criminal cases and the Holyrood inquiry, he was “satisfied with the permanent secretary’s performance”

Mr Case said Ms Evans had been “very clear about the failings and the mistakes made”.

He added: “[She] has apologised for those on many occasions, which I have to say is typical of Leslie and the sort of leader that she is, that she’s open about the mistakes she’s made. That’s the sort of behaviour that we expect.”

Mr Mundell, MP for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale, then asked if Mr Case shared the ”widely-held view in Scotland that nobody has taken responsibility for the mistakes that have been catalogued” and added: “It is one of thing to be open about making mistakes. It’s another thing for somebody to take responsibility for those mistakes.”

Mr Case responded: “From what I’ve seen, Leslie has taken responsibility for those. She’s been clear about the mistakes that were made, she’s apologised, especially to the women involved.

“On this question about responsibility, of course the First Minister retains confidence in Leslie and has made that publicly clear. That’s an important guide for me, about how the overseeing Minister feels about the performance of the permanent secretary.”

Mr Case said the First Minster’s opinion on the permanent secretary was an important aspect that he would “take into account” and added: “There would be very unusual circumstances that you considered a permanent secretary’s performance to be below standard if the Secretary of State or First Minister or what have you was actually displaying full confidence and giving you strong feedback.”

The civil service chief added that the Scottish Government and civil service were “keen” to set out what lessons they have learned from the saga once the election campaign is over.