Top mandarin’s ‘contempt’ for MSPs raised at Westminster

SCOTLAND’S most senior civil servant will come under pressure at Westminster this week over her snub of a Holyrood committee.

Conservative MP Andrew Bowie plans to raise the ‘unacceptable’ refusal by Leslie Evans to answer questions from MSPs. Her conduct is at the heart of a wider Government culture that treats voters with contempt, say critics.

The snub has infuriated MSPs, with finance committee convener Kenneth Gibson writing that members were ‘extremely disappointed at the discourtesy shown’.

Ms Evans was replaced as Permanent Secretary by John-Paul Marks on December 31, but does not leave the Civil Service – or her £170,000a-year salary – until March 31. Until then, she remains answerable to Simon Case, head of the UK Civil Service. Mr Bowie, MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, will ask at Scottish Questions in the Commons on Wednesday if it is acceptable for her to refuse to help MSPs and the Scottish Government learn from mistakes of the past.

He said: ‘I intend to ask a question about the Permanent Secretary’s unavailability to committee at the Scottish parliament which is, on the face of it, an unacceptable barrier to democratic scrutiny. If there are perfectly good reasons for such a waiver, the parliament and public should have an account of that.’

Ms Evans has become a controversial figure in recent years.

She was at the heart of the unlawful investigation into complaints against Alex Salmond which led to a defeat for the Scottish Government in the Court of Session and a £630,000 bill for taxpayers. Ms Evans gave evidence to a committee about her role in the fiasco but later had to correct the record and was criticised for ‘individual failing’ in the Government’s response to Mr Salmond’s judicial review.

She faced calls to quit but was backed by Nicola Sturgeon and stayed in post until late last year.

Yesterday Ms Evans was accused of failing to practise what she preaches after writing blogs stressing the importance of ‘collaborative leaders’ who do not put their interests ahead of ‘the wider cause’. In 2018, she wrote: ‘Heroic leadership isn’t going to cut it here – we need distributed, open and empowered collaborative leadership.’

MSPs said her failure to live up to those lofty ambitions was a symptom of a wider problem of secrecy within the Scottish Government. Scottish Labour business manager Neil Bibby said: ‘The secrecy at the heart of the SNP has long been chipping away at the principles of open government. The Government must stop treating parliament and the people of Scotland with such contempt. People expect the Government to practise what they preach but too often they seem to fall short of their own standards.’

Scots Lib Dem leader Alex ColeHamilton said: ‘In her blogs, she stressed the importance of leadership and accessible government, but by refusing to appear before parliament she seems to be falling far short of what she preached.’

Ms Evans declined to comment.

‘SNP is chipping away at open government’