Justice secretary found to have breached ministerial code

Justice Secretary Angela Constance broke the ministerial code after making controversial comments about a grooming gangs expert in parliament, an investigation has found.

The SNP minister was accused of misrepresenting Prof Alexis Jay's position on public inquiries into child sexual abuse and exploitation.

However, the Scottish government's independent advisers found that the breaches of the ministerial code were inadvertent and "without any deliberation or intention to mislead".

Constance, who accepted the inquiry's findings, was given a written reprimand and told to make a statement to parliament to update the official record.

The row dates back to September, when the justice secretary quoted Prof Jay - who is overseeing a review of the evidence on grooming gangs in Scotland - in parliament and told MSPs that the expert did not support further grooming gang inquiries.

However, Prof Jay later contacted the government to clarify that her remarks did not refer to inquiries in Scotland.

The independent investigation identified two breaches of the ministerial code.

The first was that Constance's comments about Prof Jay "had the potential to mislead parliament" and should have been corrected as soon as the expert asked the government to clarify her comments.

However, the advisers found that there was no evidence that Constance "knowingly misled parliament nor was the statement inaccurate or untruthful".

The second breach related to a telephone conservation in which Constance apologised to Prof Jay. The minister had revealed last month that no government officials were on the call.

The advisers described this as an "error of judgement in the moment and not deliberate and in that sense inadvertent".

First Minister John Swinney said he accepted the findings of the investigation and that the recommendations of the investigation would be followed.

Making a statement to parliament, Constance said she accepted the conclusion of the investigation "unreservedly" and apologised to the first minister.

"I have always stated that I did not intend to mislead parliament in any way," she told MSPs.

"The record could have and should have been corrected earlier and a statement to parliament should have been made earlier."

Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay called on Constance to quit.

He also noted that Swinney had previously told parliament that he believed there had not been a breach of the ministerial code.

Findlay added: "This saga has all the hallmarks of John Swinney's government - cover-up over candour, self-preservation over integrity."

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said Constance had lost the confidence of the victims of grooming gangs and that she should resign.

The controversy led to the mother of a grooming gangs survivor, known as Taylor, saying she no longer had confidence in Constance.

Opposition MSPs triggered a vote of no confidence against the justice secretary in December.

The justice secretary survived the vote but shortly before Christmas the Scottish government's independent advisers confirmed that they would investigate her comments.

Constance made the remarks about Prof Jay when she opposed a Conservative amendment to a victims bill, which called for an inquiry into grooming gangs.

Emails released by the government later showed Prof Jay clarified that she made the comment quoted by Constance "in the context of the England and Wales Public Inquiry on Child Sexual Abuse," which she chaired.

Prof Jay wrote: "It had nothing to do with [the Conservative] amendment, or the position in Scotland, as could be interpreted from your statement."

She urged the government to clarify her position.

Constance apologised to Prof Jay at a meeting of Holyrood's education committee.

She said she made an initial apology in a "personal" telephone conversation with the academic.

However, the committee heard no government officials were present on the call - sparking further accusations of a ministerial code breach.

After the independent advisers announced their investigation, Constance told BBC Scotland News that the row could have been "handled better" but that she had acted in "good faith".

The Scottish government announced in December that there is to be a national review of the evidence on the operation of grooming gangs in Scotland.

It will be carried out by independent inspectorates, and overseen by an expert panel led by Prof Jay.

The expert panel will advise ministers on the outcome of the review, which will inform a future decision on whether or not there should be a judge-led public inquiry.

Prof Jay previously told MSPs that she had never sought an apology but wanted there to be an "accurate record" of her quote cited in parliament.

There is something in these findings for both the government and the opposition at Holyrood.

The Conservatives and Labour - who tried to force the justice secretary out of office over this issue - can say they were right to pursue it because the rules were broken.

The SNP government can stress that mistakes were "inadvertent", that the recommended sanctions have now been applied and that the matter is resolved.

Three points linger.

Firstly, Angela Constance could have saved herself a lot of bother by owning her mistake, clarifying her words to parliament at the outset and saying sorry.

Secondly, the fact that the first minister's advisers found the rules had been broken does not reflect well on his judgement.

He previously declared himself "satisfied" by the way things had been handled and saw no reason for an investigation.

Thirdly, this row has clouded the underlying question - is there sufficient evidence to justify a new inquiry into the operation of grooming gangs in Scotland?

The Scottish government is still gathering information on that and will have to make a decision based on advice from the very expert at the centre of this row - Professor Alexis Jay.