HALF of the MSPs on the Scottish Parliament’s education committee have accused Douglas Ross of “abusing his position” as convener.
It came just moments after the former Scottish Tory leader issued a statement to the media through the Scottish Parliament communications office saying that Justice Secretary Angela Constance and Professor Alexis Jay would give evidence to his committee next week.
When Constance rejected calls for an inquiry into grooming gangs in September, she told MSPs that Jay – who led the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham in 2014 – had agreed with her that such a probe was not needed.
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But emails made public by the Scottish Government on Wednesday revealed that Jay – who led the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham in 2014 – later contacted Constance to say she would “appreciate” her position “being clarified”.
The Tories have claimed that Constance’s position is “untenable” after she “misled parliament”, but the First Minister has given her his full backing and the Greens have declined to support a no-confidence vote in her.
In the statement issued on Friday afternoon, Ross said: “Professor Alexis Jay and Angela Constance, Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs, will give evidence to our committee on Wednesday December 17.”
He went on: “There is substantial interest in the Scottish Government’s plans to investigate child sexual abuse and exploitation in Scotland.
“The committee is keen to hear from both Professor Jay and the Cabinet Secretary regarding correspondence on this topic which the committee received earlier this week. We will also explore what can be done to prevent future abuses, bring the perpetrators of these awful crimes to justice and get answers for victims.”
In a damning rebuttal issued moments later, five of the MSPs on the committee – four from the SNP and the now-independent John Mason – said Ross was “abusing his position as a committee convenor for his own political motives”.
In a joint statement, the five went on: “Parliamentary convention dictates that committees discuss potential witness appearances as a group ahead of requests to appear before committees are issued. This process gives the committee the opportunity to set out clear objectives to ensure that evidence sessions are as informative as possible.
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“Mr Ross failed to properly consult and get agreement from his fellow committee members ahead of inviting the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs and Professor Alexis Jay to give evidence to the committee next week.
“No member of the committee disagreed in principle to inviting the Cabinet Secretary and Professor to appear, but the majority of the committee were in agreement that they should discuss their potential appearances as a group next week ahead of any invitations being issued.
“Despite not having the support of the majority of committee members, Mr Ross went ahead and issued invites in a move blatantly motivated by his own political goals.”
The comment was signed by Jackie Dunbar, George Adam, Bill Kidd, Paul McLennan, and Mason.
Speaking to BBC Radio Scotland earlier on Friday, Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes said she believes Jay is “content” with Constance’s comments being clarified.
She said: “The full extent of the correspondence has now been published, and, critically, Professor Alexis Jay was content with the process I understand.
“Although it’s important that you hear from her because putting words in people’s mouth is how we got into this debate in the first place, but I understand she was content with the clarification being made about the context of her quotes at the national child sexual abuse and exploitation [strategic group].”
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