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Lib Dem MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton asks when the first minister first became aware that a civil servant may have come forward in 2017 with concerns about the historical behaviour of Alex Salmond.

The first minister says that following a Sky News query in November and her conversation with Geoff Aberdein, she had an awareness that there was an issue and that it may be in the form of complaint against Mr Salmond.

However, she said it was not until she read the letter from the permanent secretary at the meeting on 2 April 2018 that she had detailed knowledge of two complaints.

The first minister points out that the query from Sky on 4 November had left her with a sense of unease.

"I had a lingering suspicion that there might be something in the ether or in the undergrowth that could surface."

These issues are "deeply personal" and hard for her to talk about, she adds.

Nick Eardley
Political correspondent

Alex Salmond has complained to the Scottish government about the alleged disclosure of a complainant’s name in 2018.

Mr Salmond’s office made the announcement as Nicola Sturgeon gave evidence to a committee of MSPs.

He has claimed his aide was told the name of one of the people who had made allegations about him under Scottish government harassment policy. Ms Sturgeon has said she does not think that happened.

A spokesperson for Mr Salmond confirmed he had lodged a formal complaint under the civil service code about "the conduct of the official who is alleged to have breached civil service rules, by disclosing the name of a complainant in the Scottish government process”.

Glenn Campbell
BBC Scotland Political Editor

One of the most serious allegations levelled at Nicola Sturgeon’s administration is that a senior Scottish government official gave the name of a woman who complained about Alex Salmond’s behaviour to his former chief of staff, Geoff Aberdein.

Mr Salmond’s QC Duncan Hamilton and another of his former advisers, Kevin Pringle, have backed up his account that Mr Aberdein told them this happened in a private exchange with a member of the first minister’s team in early March 2018.

Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser - who is himself a lawyer - presented this as corroboration of a potentially criminal disclosure.

However, Nicola Sturgeon said that while she did not wish to question the sincerity of these accounts, this evidence amounted to hearsay because neither Mr Hamilton nor Mr Pringle were giving a first hand account of events.

The first minister said only Geoff Aberdein and the senior official in her team were able to do that. The senior official has specifically denied releasing the name of a complainer.

Ms Sturgeon went on to say that Mr Salmond knew the names of both complainers when she met him on 2 April 2018 - because he had apologised to one about his behaviour and had worked out the identity of the other by trawling the Scottish government’s Flickr account.

The implication here is that Mr Salmond did not need any assistance from someone in her team to identify those who raised the original harassment complaints against him.

Image source, Getty Images

Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser says that in a written submission, former SNP MSP and lawyer for Mr Salmond, Duncan Hamilton, said he was aware of the government official who gave the name of the complainer to Alex Salmond's former chief of staff, Geoff Aberdein. He says this was corroborated by former SNP communications director Kevin Pringle.

He asks who would corroborate the government official's version of events.

Ms Sturgeon says the committee could test this privately with both Geoff Aberdein and the government official. She adds that neither Duncan Hamilton or Kevin Pringle were at the meeting.

She says that James Hamilton, who is conducting the separate investigation into whether Ms Sturgeon broke the ministerial code, has accounts from both of them.

Mr Fraser asks why Geoff Aberdein would give evidence that was untrue.

The first minister says she has not seen or heard Mr Aberdein's evidence.

Mr Fraser asks if the police are investigating this - and if not, why not?

The first minister points out that the committee's inquiry and the ministerial code investigations are both taking place, and says the police do not need her authority to investigate any matter they wish.

Jackie Baillie asks Ms Sturgeon why she did not report the leak of confidential information to the Daily Record to the police.

Ms Sturgeon agrees that the leak was very troubling.

She says there were investigations within the Scottish government and that Mr Salmond raised the matter with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

It found no "hard evidence" that it came from the government, Ms Sturgeon says.

A later review report from the ICO said it had "some sympathy" for the view that the leak had come from the government.

The first minister says she does not know why it was not reported to the police, and offers to go away and reflect on that.

Ms Baillie asks Ms Sturgeon if she will report it to the police now.

The first minister says she believes that the ICO review team looked at the matter and if they thought there was evidence they would have referred it to the police or the Crown Office.

Image source, Daily Record

Last week Alex Salmond called for a police investigation into how details of the complaints against him were leaked to the Daily Record newspaper in August 2018. He said he believed the leak came from within the government and was politically motivated.

Labour MSP Jackie Baillie asks Ms Sturgeon when she became aware of the leak to the Daily Record.

Ms Sturgeon says, from memory, she became aware of a query from the newspaper some time in the afternoon of the day before it published the story.

Ms Sturgeon says Alex Salmond told the committee there was detail in the second Record story that could only have come from the "decision report" after the harassment procedure.

The first minister says she was never sent that decision report.

"Since I first became aware of what Alex Salmond was facing, the thought of it becoming public, the thought of having to comment on it horrified me, absolutely horrified me, made me feel physically sick," Ms Sturgeon says.

She says there was no part of her that "proactively" wanted to see it get into the public domain.

"I had nothing to gain from it and only a lot of pain and grief associated with it," she says.

Ms Baillie asks about the suggestion that the name of a complainer had been revealed to Geoff Aberdein, and then being relayed to Mr Salmond.

The Labour MSP asks who authorised the senior member of Ms Sturgeon's team to reveal the name of the complainer to Mr Salmond's former chief of staff.

The first minister replies: "I am not accepting that that happened."

Ms Sturgeon says this is a matter of contention, and that James Hamilton is not under the same constraints in his investigation into the ministerial code.

The first minister says she assumes Mr Salmond would have known the names of both complainers, one through Flickr and one because he had apologised to her.

Image source, Getty Images

Labour MSP Jackie Baillie turns to the confidentiality of complainants, which she and Willie Rennie raised during First Minister's Questions last week.

The first minister says she was not at meetings with Geoff Aberdein which Ms Baillie had suggested she attended.

She says Alex Salmond knew about the identity of one complainant as he had apologised to the person concerned.

Ms Sturgeon says she cannot recall if the name of the other complainant was shared openly on 2 April, but Mr Salmond also knew about the identity of that complainant after going through the government's Flickr account.

The first minister says she did not know that a meeting between somebody in her team and Geoff Aberdein, Mr Salmond's former chief of staff, was taking place.

Ms Baillie asks if Mr Aberdein, former SNP communications director Kevin Pringle and Duncan Hamilton QC are not telling the truth.

"I'm not casting aspersions on the veracity of anybody," replies the first minister.

Nick Eardley
Political correspondent

The first section of questioning was about the formulation of the Scottish government's harassment policy. Ms Sturgeon has insisted the intention was good - but apologised to the women it let down.

But the hardest bits of this hearing will come later, when the committee asks Ms Sturgeon about her account of events in 2018. That’s where she faces serious allegations she broke the ministerial code.

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Here are the main points from the opening section of questioning:

• Nicola Sturgeon denies information linked to the investigation of harassment complaints against her predecessor was hidden, saying there was "no intention on the part of the government to withhold relevant information".
• "I would never have wanted to get Alex Salmond" the first minister tells the committee. Drawing up a government harassment policy was not about Mr Salmond, she maintains, but a response to the #metoo movement.
• Nicola Sturgeon says her predecessor Alex Salmond was a "tough guy" to work for but she had not heard concerns about his alleged sexual behaviour.

SNP MSP Stuart McMillan asks if the first minister accepts things went wrong with the harassment procedure, and asks what can be done to avoid this in future.

"I unreservedly accept that things went wrong in that respect," replies the first minister.

She says Laura Dunlop QC is reviewing these matters for the government, and that this will be combined with the committee's findings.

Questioned by SNP MSP Alasdair Allan, Ms Sturgeon says the harrassment policy was "absolutely, emphatically" not designed to catch Alex Salmond.

"Alex Salmond has been one of the closest people to me in my entire life," she says.

"I would never have wanted to get Alex Salmond and I would never, ever have wanted any of this to happen."

Ms Sturgeon says that in her younger days she looked up to and revered Mr Salmond.

"I had no motive, intention or desire to get Alex Salmond," she added.

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Answering questions from Independent MSP Andy Wightman, Ms Sturgeon says she now knows there had been an incident which Alex Salmond had apologised for in 2013.

However, she did not know that at the time and did not hear about concerns back then.

She says Mr Salmond was "a tough guy to work for" and that she did address times when she felt he was crossing a line or risking crossing it - although this did not relate to behaviour of a sexual nature.

Ms Sturgeon insists that governments should be able to investigate sexual harassment claims against former ministers, and says she fundamentally disagrees with Mr Salmond's view on this.

SNP MSP Maureen Watt refers to Alex Salmond's claim that there was no need for a new harassment policy as there was already one in place.

Ms Sturgeon says: "He seemed to be saying he did not think there should have been a procedure in place that was capable of investigating him."

She says she fundamentally disagreed with that.

The first minister says organisations all over the world were reviewing their policies at that time, and that gaps and weaknesses in the existing policies were identified.

Ms Watt asks if it was Ms Sturgeon who wanted the policy in place quickly.

The first minister says she felt there was a serious problem to be addressed. They were keen to do it quickly but did not cut corners.

Ms Sturgeon rejected suggestions that it was a "bespoke Alex Salmond" policy.

Ms Sturgeon says that when she was told about the media inquiry from Sky News about allegations against Alex Salmond, the danger would have been in influencing policy to protect him.

"The policy was not put in place because of Alex Salmond but nor did I let any even subconscious considerations about Alex Salmond influence the decisions I took on that," she says.

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On Tuesday evening, the Scottish government published emails showing it continued its doomed legal fight with Mr Salmond despite its lawyers advising it was likely to lose.

The documents, external showed a senior lawyer was "very concerned indeed" about the case in October 2018, with the government's counsel urging it to admit defeat by 6 December.

But it did not do so until January 2019, when it had to pay Mr Salmond's legal fees of more than £500,000 - on top of its own costs - after admitting its investigation into the harassment allegations had been unlawful.

This was because the civil servant tasked with investigating the complaints had already had “prior contact” with the women making them, which was strictly forbidden by the procedure.

Image source, Getty Images

Tory MSP Margaret Mitchell asks why the government did not provide the material requested by the inquiry.

Ms Sturgeon says the committee has been given "copious amounts of information" from the government.

She says the main difference of view has been around legal advice, and there is a long-standing convention that governments do not release legal advice.

She says this was released yesterday, and says it allows the committee to see that well into December the view of law officers was that the government could continue to defend the case.

Ms Mitchell says Deputy First Minister John Swinney only released the legal advice under threat of a vote of no confidence.

Ms Sturgeon points out that she had recused herself from the government's handling of the investigation, and says there was "no intention on the part of the government to withhold relevant information".

She goes on to say: "While the government made mistakes, and we'll come on to those, there's nothing here that the government has to hide."

Ms Mitchell asks why the two complainers did not have their complaints properly and fairly considered by the government.

The first minister says it was because the government made a "very serious mistake" in applying the procedure during the investigation into Alex Salmond.

Ms Sturgeon says that is something she deeply regrets, and about which she is sorry and very angry.

Here are the main points of the first minister's opening statement:

• “I’m sorry”. Nicola Sturgeon apologises to two women who made sexual harassment allegations, and to the wider public for failings of her government.
• She rejects suggestions she broke the ministerial code. The first minister says she acted properly, did not mislead Parliament, and followed legal advice. Her memory of key meetings with Alex Salmond differs from others who have given evidence.
• Allegations of a conspiracy against Alex Salmond are “absurd”, according to the first minister. She says: “Those of us who have campaigned alongside him, worked with him, cared for him, and consider him a friend... now stand unfairly accused of plotting against him."
• She turns the spotlight on Mr Salmond’s conduct. The first minister stresses that Mr Salmond was cleared in court, but says his behaviour was “not always appropriate”.

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Committee convener Linda Fabiani asks the first minister to outline how the new policy on harassment came about.

Ms Sturgeon cites the #metoo movement which brought accusations of sexual harassment to the fore in autumn 2017.

She says the allegations moved into the political sphere and in late October there were newspaper stories about sexual harassment at the Scottish Parliament.

She says there was a concern that women did not have the confidence to bring complaints forward.

Ms Sturgeon says the Cabinet had a discussion and decided it should review its processes.

One of the gaps that had been identified in the existing policy was the ability to address historic complaints against government ministers.

"It was not expressly requested by me or the cabinet, it was perceived to be a gap," she says.

Ms Sturgeon says there were three main changes to the policy between early November and when it was signed off on 20 December 2017.

Firstly, current ministers were added in to the policy, she says.

Secondly, the first minister's role in the process was removed. "Given this was decision about politicians or former politicians I thought that was appropriate," she says.

And thirdly, in the case of former ministers a first minister should not be told about the investigation or the outcome until the end of that process.

Ms Sturgeon says there is a "distinction" between current and former ministers because the first minister has an ongoing duty to consider whether someone is fit for office.

Nick Eardley
Political correspondent

Alex Salmond didn't go into questions on his actions last week - saying he would rest on the verdict of the courts.

Ms Sturgeon clearly, however, thinks he behaved inappropriately and has made a point of saying so in her opening statement.

This committee isn’t looking into Mr Salmond’s behaviour. But Ms Sturgeon is still deeply uncomfortable with the actions of her former mentor.

Ms Sturgeon says she is "relieved" to be finally facing the committee, but that being there makes her "really sad".

She says Mr Salmond described the past few years as a "nightmare" and she does not doubt the impact on him.

"He was someone I cared about for a long time," Ms Sturgeon says.

She says that she watched his evidence and searched for signs that he recognised how difficult this had been for others too.

Ms Sturgeon talks of the women who believed his behaviour towards them was inappropriate and those who have worked with him and considered him a friend, and who now stand "unfairly accused of plotting against him," she says.

Ms Sturgeon says it is "beyond question" that Mr Salmond was acquitted of criminal conduct.

"But I know, just from what he told me, that his behaviour was not always appropriate and yet across six hours of testimony there was not a single word of regret, reflection or even simple acknowledgement of that," she says.

"I can only hope that in private the reality might be different."

Ms Sturgeon says she has never claimed to be "infallible". She has searched her soul and may not have got everything right.

"But in one of the most invidious personal and political situations I have ever faced, I believe I acted properly and appropriately and that overall I made the best judgement I could," she says.