Sturgeon’s former top official snubs Holyrood in ‘discourtesy’

THE Scottish Government’s former leading official has been accused of showing Parliament “discourtesy” after refusing to appear before

MSPS to discuss her job.

In a scathing letter, Holyrood’s finance and public administration committee said it was “extremely disappointed” at Leslie Evans’s “failure to engage”.

MSPS said they did not “intend to waste any more of our time pursuing this matter”.

Ms Evans is currently on three months’ leave from her £175,000-ayear job as Permanent Secretary before retiring on March 31.

She was a key figure in the Alex Salmond affair, overseeing the disastrous internal probe into sexual misconduct claims against the former first minister.

Her decisions contributed to Mr Salmond being able to overturn the findings in a judicial review that saw him awarded £512,000 in costs.

Despite the blunders of her watch, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon stood by Ms Evans throughout and refused to sack her.

As part of its work into the running of the Scottish Government, the committee approached Ms Evans’s officials last October about her sharing her reflections and insights on her role.

She was repeatedly reassured that the committee did not want to re-run the Salmond affair or revisit events examined by a previous Holyrood inquiry into it.

Instead, the focus would be on “how government functions, the capacity and capability of the civil service, culture, and how policies are developed and implemented”.

However on Monday, the Office of the Permanent Secretary wrote to the committee refusing on her behalf, and offered her replacement John-paul Marks instead.

It said that as Ms Evans, 61, was on leave she was “effectively no longer a post-holder within the Scottish Government and is not able to speak on behalf of or represent the views of Scottish ministers”.

In reply, SNP committee convener Kenneth Gibson wrote directly to Ms Evans making clear the committee’s displeasure, and published the correspondence.

“We are extremely disappointed at the discourtesy shown to the Parliament by your failure to engage directly with the committee at any stage regarding our invitation, despite our best efforts,” he said. “When we finally received a response, it was not from you, but from the Office of the Permanent Secretary, stating that, as you are now on a period of leave , you are not able to speak on behalf, or represent the views, of Scottish ministers.

“At no point have we asked you to do so. We have been absolutely clear at all times that our interest lay in your own reflections, not those of ministers, to support the committee in developing a clearer understanding of the workings of government in our new public administration role.

“Very few people have the opportunity to gain your level of experience in government.

“We are firmly of the view that it is in the public interest for the committee to hear from civil servants as part of our public administration remit. You remain in the employment of the Scottish Government and we do not accept that your period of leave exempts you from giving evidence to a parliamentary committee, in the way suggested.”

He added: “Given the time that has elapsed since our original approach to you and the response of 7 March, we do not however intend to waste any more of our time pursuing this matter.”

He also said Mr Marks would be invited to give evidence instead.

Labour MSP Daniel Johnson said: “This is just the latest example of secrecy from a tired and out-oftouch government.

“The committee deserved to hear from the Permanent Secretary, but she has turned her back on the committee and on proper scrutiny as a result.

“This sets a very dangerous precedent as civil servants are obliged to appear before our Parliament’s committees.

“This is a disappoint postscript to the former permanent secretary’s public service.

“It is clear that the culture of this government is to hold the Parliament and the people that it represents in contempt.”

Conservative MSP Liz Smith added: “The members of the finance committee, myself included, are extremely disappointed by the response from Ms Evans. It is discourteous to the committee.”

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-hamilton said: “Leslie Evans is picking up a huge salary and a vast pension, the bare minimum that we should expect of her is to spend an hour or two taking questions from parliamentarians about how government functions

“Attendance at these sessions should not be optional.”