A media investigation by Sky News led to questions about what Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon knew about the bullying concerns surrounding his predecessor Alex Salmond’s office.
When we asked the Scottish government for copies of its complaint procedure, employees mistakenly sent their internal emails detailing how they handled the request.
Opponents of the SNP administration have described the content of the email chain as “media management that would make Vladimir Putin blush” and say it raises serious questions about what Nicola Sturgeon knew about alleged intimidating behavior.
The email chain seen by Sky News …
The Sky News inquiry was for copies of the Scottish government’s complaints procedure for officials before and after 2007, when the SNP took office.
We wanted to examine the changes made when the so-called Justice at Work code was introduced in 2010, following the union’s concerns about bullying around former Prime Minister Alex Salmond.
The FDA civil servants union says it has raised complaints to the government about the alleged behavior in the office of Salmond and other ministers. As evidence for the current investigation, which is investigating the Scottish government’s handling of allegations of harassment against Salmond, the FDA said some public officials complained that they were operating in a “culture of fear”.
The Scottish government’s permanent secretary, Leslie Evans, told the same inquiry that she did not recognize the union’s claims.
When the 2010 changes were made to the Scottish government’s complaint procedure, Nicola Sturgeon was given significant responsibility for handling complaints made against government ministers.
The labor justice code included a new mechanism for employees to file complaints against ministers and any escalations would be handled by a panel of two people – the permanent secretary (the most senior civil servant) and the deputy prime minister, who at the time was Nicola Sturgeon.
The Complaints against Ministers section, presented after the union’s concerns, was exclusive to the Scottish government.
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January 11: Sturgeon reads messages from Salmond
Sky News requested copies of the Fairness at Work code. This generated internal correspondence from the Scottish government which shows:
• Our request was transmitted from the Scottish government’s communications team to political and special advisers and then to the offices of the permanent secretary and prime minister Nicola Sturgeon for approval.
• Policy and special advisers suggested that Sky News send a Freedom of Information Request for the documents.
• The communications office has compiled a list of “follow-up questions” that would likely be asked by Sky News and “agreed responses” by policy and special advisers.
• Advance questions included: “Why was a section on Complaints against Ministers added in 2010?”
• In the Complaints against Ministers section, the proposed response states that “Ministers have been consulted”.
The e-mail chain was distributed to 39 recipients who work in different government departments, many of them at senior level.
Approval of the draft response was requested from the offices of the Prime Minister and the Permanent Secretary.
By the time we got the emails, the permanent secretary had given his approval, but there was no written response from Nicola Sturgeon’s office.
It was in November 2017 that we filed our request for copies of the government’s complaint procedure. The communication strategy we saw was not ultimately implemented.
After Sky News learned of its internal correspondence, the Scottish government sent us the documents originally requested.
The extent and apparent complexity of the government’s internal discussions about our investigation raised questions.
Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP, of the Liberal Democrats, told Sky News: “The response to this routine request for a set of documents is as suspicious as it is surprising.
“Why was it subjected to an elaborate question and answer process that was analyzed by special advisers and had to be clarified by the Prime Minister herself?
“It’s a media management that would make Vladimir Putin blush and smell like an attempt to deflect and create a fog around what happened in 2010.”
“Nicola Sturgeon knew about concerns about bullying in Alex Salmond’s office as early as 2010? He was her colleague and close leader, you had the unions complaining and she was given a role in handling complaints against ministers.
“She asked why and what was going on?
“And the phrase that really stands out is ‘Ministers were consulted about change’.
“If that’s the case, should we really believe that Nicola Sturgeon, then Deputy Prime Minister, wasn’t he?”
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Sky News asked the Scottish government whether Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon knew about the intimidation concerns surrounding Alex Salmond’s office in 2010 and, if so, what steps she took.
A Scottish government spokesman replied, “The Prime Minister has provided written evidence to the committee and expects to answer questions when asked to attend.”
In her written petition to the parliamentary inquiry into the handling of sexual harassment complaints against Alex Salmond, Ms. Sturgeon states: “I had no general concerns at the time about the 2008-14 Scottish government culture, and certainly not about harassment. the government is a high pressure environment.
“Mr. Salmond could be a challenge to work with, and rightly so, he demanded high standards. However, I was present on a few occasions when tense situations had to be neutralized.”
Mrs. Sturgeon and Mr. Salmond are expected to give oral evidence of the investigation at some stage.
It was created after a 2018 Scottish government investigation into the complaints was deemed “illegal” and “tainted by apparent bias” by a Scottish court and the taxpayer had to pay the £ 500,000 bill in court costs.
He accused his successor of deceiving Parliament and proving the inquiry to be “simply false”. An investigation is underway to find out whether Sturgeon violated the ministerial code or not.
If proven, it could threaten your political future.
She vehemently rejected Salmond’s claims about her statements about the harassment investigation, accusing him of “weaving false conspiracy theories”.
Alex Salmond was acquitted of sexual assault charges against nine women following a criminal trial in March last year.
Analysis: This should have been a routine request – but it triggered a red code
By James Matthews, Scotland correspondent
After all, the Scottish government’s labor justice code is not a state secret – it is widely available, not just to the hundreds of civil servants whose welfare was created to protect.
Requesting a copy appears to be the end of the media searches processed by St Andrews House.
The emails we’ve seen tend to suggest otherwise. Interestingly, our order triggered a complicated communication process that smells like a red code.
Why does a request for documents have to go to the top of the government to be signed by the prime minister himself? And not before a strategy is devised that would hardly accelerate access.
It is a fascinating glimpse into the inner workings of a modern government media machine. It is also a measure of the distance traveled from a simpler time of direct questions and answers for guessing.
When we wrote “2010”, what did they read?
The year 2010 unites union bullying claims, ministers being consulted on the need for change and Nicola Sturgeon being held responsible for a new procedure.
The Prime Minister’s opponents read this as a list of embarrassing questions. Strangely, your own team too.