Scottish ministers to be named when complaints upheld

Any Scottish government minister found guilty of misconduct will be named under an updated ministerial complaints procedure.

The outcome of any upheld or partially upheld complaints made by civil servants will also be published.

The move comes after the outcome of a bullying inquiry into former minister Fergus Ewing was not made public.

Mr Ewing - then Scottish rural economy secretary - "completely rejected" the claims made against him by staff.

When pressed on the outcome of the probe, Nicola Sturgeon claimed she was bound by legal data protection issues.

But she said this was "not a situation I am comfortable with", and ordered a review of the system to see whether the outcome of complaints could be published in future.

• Sturgeon accused of secrecy over Ewing bullying inquiry

• New system for complaints against Scottish ministers

• Scottish cabinet minister denies bullying allegations

Deputy First Minister John Swinney said the changes were being made to improve transparency.

He said: "The first minister advised the Scottish Parliament in June that the ministerial code and complaints procedure would be updated with regards to future complaints.

"The Scottish government is determined to build a culture in which concerns are addressed early and in which all those who are involved with a complaint have confidence and can engage constructively and fairly in the process."

Where the outcome of a formal complaint is upheld or partially upheld, ministers will be named and the outcome of the complaint published along with a redacted version of the decision report.

Under the new procedure, the first minister will be informed of a complaint about a current minister, including their name, at the outset of the process.

However, they will not be told the identity of a former minister who is the subject of a complaint.

Fergus Ewing was accused of bullying when he was Scottish rural economy secretary and denied the claims

The procedure applies to all Scottish government staff and civil servants working in the Scottish government's executive agencies.

Information on the number of formal complaints will be published every six months.

In cases where a complaint is not upheld, the minister's name and the outcome will be published on the Scottish government website for a period of six months.

The planned changes will come into effect by the end of the year.

In 2021, it was announced complaints against ministers will no longer be investigated in-house by the Scottish government.

The shake-up was prompted after the Scottish government was found to have acted unlawfully while investigating two internal harassment complaints against the former first minister Alex Salmond.

A review by Laura Dunlop QC had recommended that such inquiries should be independent of government.