Nicola Sturgeon's full submission to the Alex Salmond inquiry

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I refer to your letter of 7 July.

Please treat this covering reply and attached annexes as my response to the questions posed in your letter.

With regard to paragraph 5 of Annex B of your letter, noting that “the Committee and all participants must comply with the court order made by the Lord Justice Clerk, Lady Dorrian, on 10 March 2020”, I have excluded from this letter any information that, as far as I am aware, might disclose the identity of any of the complainers in HMA v AEA Salmond.

However, I do not know if my submission would pose a risk in ways I am not aware of, or if other evidence submitted would risk jigsaw identification.

Therefore, prior to publication of all or part of this submission, I would like assurance on the steps the Committee has taken to ensure that nothing in it, either on its own or taken together with anyone else’s evidence, would risk identification.

The Committee previously asked me to retain all information relevant to the Inquiry. I enclose at Annex B a transcript of WhatsApp messages between myself and Alex Salmond.

READ: Peter Murrell's submission to the Alex Salmond inquiry in full

This is the only information I hold relevant to the Committee’s Inquiry. I have no objection, as regards my own interests, to the publication of these messages in full.

However, I seek an assurance from the Committee that any issues relating to Alex Salmond’s data rights or legal privilege will be properly considered before publication, including whether his consent is required.

Subject to the above, I will be happy to discuss any aspect of my response with the Committee in oral session. I have structured my response in line with your paragraph headings.

Please note that any and all involvement I had in my capacity as First Minister in the Complaints Policy Development, Complaints Handling Procedure and Judicial Review - and any relevant documentation in respect thereof - will be included in the Scottish Government’s submissions to the Committee.

The information I provide in this response relates to my actions in a party/personal capacity. This includes my decision to advise the Permanent Secretary of information I acquired in my party/ personal capacity, where I considered that the interests of the Scottish Government required it.

I refer in this submission to the letter I wrote to the Permanent Secretary on 6 June 2018. A copy of this should be requested from the Scottish Government.

COMPLAINTS POLICY DEVELOPMENT

As a personal reflection and for context, the development of the Scottish Government’s “Handling of harassment complaints involving current or former Ministers” (hereinafter referred to as “the Procedure”) took place against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement, which started in late 2017 in the wake of allegations extending back over several years about certain high profile individuals.

The concerns being expressed globally at that time were that too many organisations did not have procedures in place that allowed allegations of sexual harassment to be raised or properly investigated; that women’s voices were often not heard or listened to; that organisations too often closed ranks in defence of men accused of inappropriate behaviour; and that it could be particularly difficult for ‘historic’ allegations to be raised.

The media had also reported concerns about the prevailing culture in Holyrood. The Scottish Government was just one of many organisations across the globe confronted with these questions at that time, and considering its procedures and culture in light of them.

You will also recall that a Scottish Government minister resigned in early November 2017 over concerns about sexually inappropriate conduct.

As First Minister, I wanted to ensure that the Scottish Government had robust procedures in place to allow any concerns or complaints by those in its employment to be properly and fairly considered, without fear or favour and regardless of the seniority or political affiliation of any individuals who might be the subject of such concerns or complaints.

My role as First Minister in the development of the Procedure will be set out in the Scottish Government’s submission to the Committee. Any involvement in my role as First Minister will be included in the Scottish Government submission on the handling of the complaints. I provide further information in a personal/party capacity in Annex A.

JUDICIAL REVIEW

The detail of my involvement in decisions associated with the Judicial Review will be set out in the Scottish Government’s submission to the Committee.

MINISTERIAL CODE

The Committee is aware that I have made a self referral to the independent panel of advisers on the Ministerial Code. However, I address the requests in this section in Annex A to this letter. Annex B includes communications in the form of WhatsApp messages between me and Alex Salmond. My letter to the Permanent Secretary dated 6 June 2018 should be requested from the Scottish Government.

PARTY POLITICAL MATTERS

I had no communication with the SNP relevant to the subject matter of the Committee’s inquiry, other than approving the party’s public comments after the matter became public in August 2018.

My husband was obviously aware of Mr Salmond’s presence in our home on 2 April and 14 July 2018, but he was not present at the meetings and I did not share the detail with him.

As I outline in Annex A, when I agreed to meet with Alex Salmond on 2 April 2018, I believed that what he was about to tell me may require a public response from the SNP. Indeed, I suspected that he may be about to resign from the SNP. In the event, it was clear to me at the 2 April meeting that his approach to handling the matter was not likely to result in it becoming public at that stage.

Accordingly, there was nothing for me to alert the SNP to, and it was not appropriate for me to disclose the fact or detail of the complaints and investigation under the Procedure. In relation to ensuring that there is a clear distinction between my role as First Minister and my role in the SNP, I have regard to the terms of both the MSP and Ministerial Codes of Conduct.

My Special Advisers abide by the terms of the Special Advisers’ Code of Conduct and the Civil Service Code. In relation to the question about Scottish Government communication and records, this is covered by Scottish Government procedures on the recording and retention of information.

The SNP communicates with its post holders in the normal ways - including meetings, emails and phone calls. The safeguard to ensure this is distinct from government communications are the relevant Codes that MSPs, Ministers and Special Advisers are bound by. To be clear, members of the public often email my SNP or MSP accounts about government business and I forward these to my ministerial private office.

On any other occasions when I email my ministerial private office or special advisers from my personal email - eg with diary queries or information requests - these will be to a Scottish Government email account and retained in line with standard procedures. And all government business, no matter the platform/medium it is conducted on/through, is subject to Freedom of Information legislation.

CULTURE

I had no general concerns at the time about Scottish Government culture from 2008- 14, and certainly not about sexual harassment. However, government is a high pressure environment.

Mr Salmond could be challenging to work for and, rightly, he demanded high standards. However, I was present on some occasions when tense situations had to be defused. Certain matters that I have become aware of through the events of the last couple of years raise - retrospectively - some other concerns. I have no general concerns about the culture of the Scottish Government now.

However, I am not complacent about the potential for instances of inappropriate behaviour within a large organisation. That is why it is important to have clear and robust procedures in place which, subject to any views of this Committee on the Procedure, I believe to be the case. I have no comment to make on the adequacy of the Civil Service Code. I give some personal reflection on the Ministerial Code in Annex A - however, the adequacy of it is a matter the independent panel will be able to consider.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, I would like to add the following personal reflections. The Committee will be considering the Scottish Government’s handling of complaints raised under the Procedure. That is, of course, legitimate. However, the Scottish Government would have had nothing to ‘handle’ had complaints not been raised about Alex Salmond’s conduct.

It was the concerns raised about his conduct - an aspect of which, by his own admission, he apologised for - that gave rise to this matter. In my view, when these complaints were raised, the Scottish Government had a duty to investigate them and the fact that a mistake was made in the conduct of the investigation does not change that fact. To have swept them under the carpet because of who they related to would have been wrong.

As far as my personal involvement is concerned, over the last couple of years, I have faced accusations of ‘conspiring’ against Alex Salmond and also of ‘colluding’ with him. I reject in the strongest possible terms both of these suggestions. Indeed it seems to me that what some want to present as ‘conspiracy’ is in actual fact my refusal to ‘collude’ or ‘cover up’.

In what was a very difficult situation - personally, politically and professionally - I tried to do the right thing. Whether I always got it absolutely right is something I still reflect on, and the Committee will consider, but I sought all along to act in good faith and to strike the right balance of judgment given the difficult issues I was confronted with.

In the light of the #MeToo movement, I sought to ensure that the Scottish Government developed a process that allowed allegations of sexual harassment - including allegations of a historic nature - to be fully and fairly considered.

I did not do this because I had a concern (as set out in Annex A) that allegations about my predecessor could materialise. But nor did I, in any way, allow such concern to lead me to limit the scope of the procedure. I agreed to meet a friend of 30 years when I was told he was in distress and wanted to talk to me about a serious matter.

And it is certainly the case that I was anxious to prepare my Party as far as possible for an issue that, at different stages, I thought could be about to become public. However, I did not seek to prevent or influence the proper consideration of the complaints.

For the sake of the complainers, the Scottish Government and indeed Alex Salmond himself, I acted in a way that I judged would best protect the independence and confidentiality of the investigation. However, when I became aware of a serious risk of legal action against my government, I felt I had a duty to make the Permanent Secretary aware of it.

My view throughout was that complaints must be properly and fairly considered, no matter who the subject of them might be, or how politically inconvenient the investigations may be.

And that remains my view, even though the circumstances and consequences of this particular investigation have caused me - and others, in many cases to an even greater extent - a great deal of personal anguish, and resulted in the breakdown of a relationship that had been very important to me, politically and personally, for most of my life. Lastly, since August 2018 I have taken care to say nothing that could compromise other proceedings, including the Committee’s inquiry - even though that has meant being unable to say more about my own actions or challenge misrepresentations about them.

Yours Sincerely,
NICOLA STURGEON
4 August 2020