‘Cooling effect’ fear of government complaints being passed to police
Complaints about the behaviour of Scottish Government ministers could be referred to the police even if that is against the wishes of alleged victims, sparking fears of a “cooling effect”.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney said the government may have an "ethical duty" to alert Police Scotland.
SNP MSP Michelle Thomson raised concerns this could put some complainers off.
New rules will see complaints about current and former ministers handled by external and independent investigators following the unlawful investigation into claims of sexual harassment by Alex Salmond.
The botched investigation into the former first minister was ruled to be unlawful by the
Court of Session, prompting three inquiries into the government’shandlingoftheaffairand its complaints procedure.
Whereacrimemayhavebeen committed,thenewprocedure says the government "will, wherever possible, respect the wishes of the complainer".
However, it adds there may be circumstances where the governmenthas"anobligation to bring the matter directly to the attention of the police".
During its handling of the Salmond case, the Scottish Government reported allegations to the police despite the reluctance of complainers.
Speaking at Holyrood's finance and public administration committee on Tuesday, Ms Thomson asked: "What active consideration have you given that that could actually have a cooling effect on complainants – completely the opposite intention?"
Mrswinneysaiditwasa"very difficult question", but argued there had to be “an acceptance of the particular obligations that apply to government”.
He said this would be considered on a "case-by-case basis".
Earlier, Mr Swinney told the committee: "As an employer, the Scottish Government is not underanabsolutedutyinallcircumstances to report matters thatitbelievesmaybeacrimeto thepolice.it'snotunderastatutory duty, as an employer.
"But the Scottish Government, if it considered it had knowledge of a crime having potentially been committed, would have to give very serious consideration to referring that to the police, even if an individual who was a member of staff who was perhaps a victim of that alleged crime did not want that to be the case.”