Mcconnell’s options for inquiry into Holyrood building costs revealed

Jack Mcconnell outlined a range of options for the inquiry into spiralling cost for the Scottish Parliament building to his Cabinet, official papers show.

The Cabinet meeting minutes from 2003, newly released by the National Records of Scotland, indicate the then first minister considered several options for the inquiry into the Holyrood building.

There was public anger at the home of the new parliament which was completed ten times over budget at £414 million and three years late.

Official documents from June 2003 reveal Mr Mcconnell updated his Cabinet on the proposals for an inquiry.

The papers state: “The three main options under consideration were: a full scale public inquiry, which would be costly and take some time; an inquiry by a Parliamentary Committee which could be criticised as amounting to MSPS investigating themselves; and an inquiry by an independent person such as the Auditor General, Mr Robert Black.”

Mr Mcconnell said the last option “would have the benefit of being totally independent” and also having access to papers dating back before 1999, but the disadvantage was that Mr Black had already investigated the building project.

The Cabinet heard Mr Mcconnell was “therefore considering bringing in two or three other people to work alongside Mr Black in a joint investigation” and planned to make approaches to them that day, 11 June, 2003, if approved, which the Cabinet did.

An inquiry led by Lord Peter Fraser was subsequently announced. Once the inquiry had been established, further papers released show Mr Mcconnell said he planned to write to Lord Fraser over “reservations about the proposal that evidence to the investigation might be televised”.