Sturgeon accused of secrecy over Fergus Ewing bullying inquiry

Fergus Ewing was accused of bullying when he was Scottish rural economy secretary

Politicians have called on Nicola Sturgeon to release details of bullying investigations amid accusations of a "culture of secrecy" in her government.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar asked the first minister to reveal the outcome of a bullying inquiry into former minister Fergus Ewing.

In 2020 the then Scottish rural economy secretary "completely rejected" claims of bullying made against him by staff.

Ms Sturgeon said she was bound by legal data protection issues.

At First Minister's Questions, Mr Sarwar queried the number of bullying investigations carried out into current or former SNP cabinet members, and what the outcomes were.

Nicola Sturgeon was asked about the inquiry at FMQs

It came after reports re-emerged about bullying complaints allegedly made by civil servants against SNP MSP Mr Ewing.

"We need to restore trust in politics," Mr Sarwar told the first minister, after quoting SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford in the aftermath of bullying allegations made against Home Secretary Priti Patel.

"We have to lead by example. We have to show leadership, and we have to make it very clear that those who work in this parliament, those that work elsewhere in society, need the fullest protection from bullying," he quoted.

'Duty of transparency'

Mr Sarwar said: "The public deserve to know the outcome of an investigation relating to ministers in the SNP government. That's an issue of public transparency."

He added that the SNP was operating "in a culture of secrecy and cover-up".

The first minister said she and the Scottish government took "any complaints about any ministers very seriously".

She said this had been shown through the development and publication of updated complaint handling procedures following the investigation into complaints made against former first minister Alex Salmond.

But she added that she could not disclose such information due to "very considerable legal data protection issues".

She said that while governments had a "duty of transparency", they also had a "duty to abide by the law on privacy and on data protection", adding that the information requested could only be disclosed "if there is a lawful basis".

'Politically inconvenient'

The Scottish government's code of conduct for ministers states that bullying "will not be tolerated", and there is a specific "fairness at work" policy process for handling complaints made by employees.

Joanna Cherry, SNP MP for Edinburgh South West, also called for the outcomes of bullying investigations to be made public, if the allegation is in the public domain, "even if it's politically inconvenient or embarrassing for some".

She said on Twitter that she was "anxious that my exoneration be made public" after she was accused of bullying in 2019.

Ms Cherry was exonerated after an independent investigation by the parliamentary standards commissioner in Westminster.

When pressed later by journalists, a spokesman for the first minister refused to expand on the issue, but when asked if the Scottish government was "secretive", he responded: "No."