COMPLAINTS against former ministers should be investigated and adjudicated independently, a top QC has said, to avoid a repetition of the Scottish Government’s handling of allegations against Alex Salmond.
Laura Dunlop QC yesterday made nine recommendations about the handling of complaints against serving ministers and one relating to former ministers.
They came as a witness statement released by the Crown Office revealed that Scotland’s chief constable warned against the Scottish Government going public about their investigation into Salmond.
A detective chief superintendent said they and the chief constable, Iain Livingstone, “both voiced our concerns” about the plan to announce the sexual harassment allegations before police had investigated them.
In her report, Dunlop said there should be no time limit in any process for investigating sexual harassment complaints against serving or former ministers, but a limit “probably less” than three years should be looked at for other complaints. Any policy regarding complaints against ministers should consider a complainer’s wish to avoid police involvement.
Referring to the revelation that Judith Mackinnon, the woman tasked with conducting the investigation into Salmond, had previously contacted the complainers before her appointment to the role, Dunlop said anyone investigating a claim must be “free of prior involvement with any aspect of the matter being raised”.
“It is clear that the investigating officer’s involvement with the complainers’ side of the process was considered to have been too close to be considered fair,” she said.
On the issue of independently investigating complaints, she said: “The risks of perception of bias, either in favour of or against the person complained about, are obvious. Moreover, there is a specific issue of accountability inherent in any process which involves civil servants in investigating such complaints.”
Her recommendation that complaints against former ministers be independently investigated suggested it could be done either by the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland, or the Independent Advisers on the Ministerial Code.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney said the Government would consider Dunlop’s recommendations alongside the anticipated report from the Committee on the Scottish Government’s Handling of Harassment Complaints (SGHHC) and James Hamilton’s inquiry into whether Nicola Sturgeon breached the ministerial code.
READ MORE: Police boss warned Government not to go public with Alex Salmond investigation
He said: “Our shared priority is to have in place policies and procedures that allow any future complaints to be raised and investigated with confidence … We will finalise an implementation plan by June which draws on the lessons highlighted by this review, as well as the forthcoming report from SGHHC Committee.”
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