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Report of the Committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints

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Report of the Committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints Published 23 March 2021 SP Paper 997 1st Report 2021 (Session 5) Committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints Report of the Committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints Published in Scotland by the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. All documents are available on the Scottish For information on the Scottish Parliament contact Parliament website at: Public Information on: http://www.parliament.scot/abouttheparliament/ Telephone: 0131 348 5000 91279.aspx Textphone: 0800 092 7100 Email: [email protected] © Parliamentary copyright. Scottish Parliament Corporate Body The Scottish Parliament's copyright policy can be found on the website — www.parliament.scot Committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints Report of the Committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints, 1st Report 2021 (Session 5) Committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints To consider and report on the actions of the First Minister, Scottish Government officials and special advisers in dealing with complaints about Alex Salmond, former First Minister, considered under the Scottish Government’s “Handling of harassment complaints involving current or former ministers” procedure and actions in relation to the Scottish Ministerial Code. [email protected] Committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints Report of the Committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints, 1st Report 2021 (Session 5) Committee Membership Convener Deputy Convener Linda Fabiani Margaret Mitchell Scottish National Party Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party Alasdair Allan Jackie Baillie Scottish National Party Scottish Labour Alex Cole-Hamilton Murdo Fraser Scottish Liberal Scottish Conservative Democrats and Unionist Party Alison Johnstone Stuart McMillan Scottish Green Party Scottish National Party Maureen Watt Scottish National Party Committee substitutes Tom Arthur participated as a committee substitute at meetings on 27 October 2020 and 9 February 2021. Donald Cameron participated as a committee substitute at a meeting on 24 February 2021. Andy Wightman participated as a committee substitute at every committee meeting from 1 December 2020 to 18 March 2021. Previous committee members Donald Cameron was a committee member until 13 August 2020. Angela Constance was a committee member until 22 December 2020. Report of the Committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints Contents Report of the Committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints ................................................................................................................. 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 4 The Committee and its remit ............................................................................... 5 The purpose of our inquiry .................................................................................. 6 Background information ...................................................................................... 6 Challenges faced by the Committee ....................................................................... 7 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 7 Our legal obligations ........................................................................................... 7 Challenges obtaining information from the Scottish Government ....................... 9 Our expectations ................................................................................................. 9 Delays in the provision of documents ................................................................ 10 Redactions ........................................................................................................ 11 Gaps in evidence .............................................................................................. 12 Challenges associated with taking evidence from civil servants ....................... 13 Recollection of events ....................................................................................... 15 Access to judicial review court documents ........................................................ 15 Access to legal advice ....................................................................................... 16 Overall conclusion on information provided by the Scottish Government ......... 20 Former First Minister ......................................................................................... 20 Other challenges ............................................................................................... 22 Clarification of evidence .................................................................................... 22 Overcoming challenges ..................................................................................... 23 Development of the Scottish Government Procedure ........................................... 24 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 24 Culture .............................................................................................................. 24 The Fairness at Work policy .............................................................................. 28 The identification of a gap in policies around former Ministers .......................... 30 Development of new procedure to deal with harassment complaints against current and former Ministers ............................................................................. 31 1 Interaction between Fairness at Work policy and the procedure ....................... 37 Consultation and engagement and speed of drafting process .......................... 37 Involvement of individuals who raised concerns ............................................... 40 Independence of process .................................................................................. 42 The Handling of the Complaints ........................................................................... 47 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 47 Overlap of development of procedure and raising of concerns ......................... 47 Formal complaints: roles and responsibilities .................................................... 52 The role of the Permanent Secretary ................................................................ 55 Referral of matters investigated under the procedure to the Crown Agent and Police Scotland ................................................................................................. 59 Transparency and access to information .......................................................... 64 The conclusion of the procedure and issues of confidentiality .......................... 66 Alternative Dispute Resolution .......................................................................... 72 The Judicial Review .............................................................................................. 78 Terminology ...................................................................................................... 78 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 79 Judicial review: key dates ................................................................................. 80 Key stages in the judicial review ....................................................................... 82 Analysis ........................................................................................................... 101 Concession of judicial review .......................................................................... 105 Awarding of full costs to the former First Minister............................................ 108 Governance arrangements ............................................................................. 110 The status of the procedure ............................................................................ 112 Scottish Ministerial Code .................................................................................... 114 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 114 The Scottish Ministerial Code ......................................................................... 114 Referral by the First Minister to the independent advisers .............................. 115 Remit of the referral to James Hamilton .......................................................... 115 Report of the independent adviser .................................................................. 118 Our role ........................................................................................................... 118 Accurate and truthful information to the Parliament ........................................ 119 Recording of meetings .................................................................................... 124 Legal advice .................................................................................................... 127 The views of this Committee ........................................................................... 128 Overall Conclusions ...........................................................................................
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