That's the evidence session complete.

• MSPs on the education committee have been hearing from grooming gangs expert Prof Alexis Jay and Justice Secretary Angela Constance.
• Prof Jay began by saying not enough is known about child sexual exploitation in Scotland.
• She went on to discuss Constance's use of her comments on grooming gangs inquiries.
• The expert told MSPs she would welcome the official parliamentary record on her comments being clarified in the same way the minutes of the strategic group meeting were.
• Constance began her evidence with an apology to Prof Jay.
• "It was never my intention to have Prof Jay be the subject of so much intrusion and attention and I very much regret that," she tells the MSPs.
• Constance then admits she had a private phone call to Prof Jay with no official present.
• Committee convener Douglas Ross says the ministerial code says there should have been an official present as it was related to ministerial business.
• Constance says the issues have become politicised and she hopes the focus can return to victims and survivors of child sexual abuse.

We're now ending our live coverage of the education committee. Thanks for joining us.

Ross again refers to the use of private calls for what he argues is government business.

He asks if the minister's private call to Prof Jay was the only time Angela Constance had done such a thing.

The cabinet secretary says she thinks so.

The Tory MSP asks would the minister have any concerns if the first minister asked his independent adviser to look at this or the independent adviser looked into it themselves.

She says she wouldn't want to say anything that would influence the first minister or the independent adviser one way or the other.

When pressed on whether she would have any concerns about an investigation, Angela Constance replies "no".

Douglas Ross says: "I found it a bit difficult and uncomfortable to listen to your rationale for not correcting the official record.

"I'm still puzzled to understand how you, as an experienced parliamentarian, and indeed a large number of independent civil servants and special advisers didn't think of reaching for the official report mechanism."

The Tory MSP goes on to say that only "five clicks" away from the Scottish Parliament's home page is the mechanism the minister could have used to correct the record.

Angela Constance says she was clear about what she did and did not say and she adds she did not seek to amend the record.

She again says she will reflect on how she can correct the official record.

Tory MSP Miles Briggs returns to the issue around private calls and he asks how many times the minister requests private calls on government business, without a government official being present.

"It's not something I've been in the practice of doing," replies Angela Constance.

The Tory MSP asks if this was a one off, to which the cabinet secretary replies yes.

She reiterates that her quote of Prof Jay was accurate and she wanted the matter addressed to the satisfaction of the academic.

Analysis: Has she done enough to save her job?published at 11:01 GMT 17 December 2025

11:01 GMT 17 December 2025

Kirsten Campbell
BBC Scotland political correspondent

Supporters of Angela Constance will likely feel she has done enough to keep her job.

Although she survived the Conservative motion of no confidence, a Labour motion was on standby and could have been brought forward had the cabinet secretary made a total botch of the evidence session.

Opposition MSPs will seek to keep up the pressure, but attention is now refocusing on the issue of child sexual exploitation and whether a separate inquiry is needed into grooming gangs.

It's Ross Greer's turn to question the minister.

The Scottish Greens co-leader begins by highlighting the "irony" of this being about misleading comments when within minutes of the vote on Liam Kerr's amendments, the Conservatives put out "not only a deeply misleading graphic but one that has undermined the safety of dozens of individuals, who they've made false claims about".

He asks about the cabinet secretary's frustration at the pace of change and says many MSPs would agree with this.

"Do you regret using the Professor Jay quote?" asks Douglas Ross.

"So, the quote was accurate," replies the minister who adds Prof Jay was within her rights to ask for more context.

"Could I have expressed myself differently? I'm quite sure I could of."

Analysis: SNP committee members rally around ministerpublished at 10:43 GMT 17 December 2025

10:43 GMT 17 December 2025

Kirsten Campbell
BBC Scotland political correspondent

SNP members are going out of their way to be supportive of Angela Constance.

They're allowing her to stress her background as a social worker, her impatience for change and her desire for attention to be focused on victims and survivors of child sexual abuse.

The mother of one of those victims wrote an open letter to MSPs saying that survivors demand honesty and transparency and they no longer have confidence in Angela Constance.

The justice secretary told the committee that grieves her.

SNP MSP Jackie Dunbar asks if this issue has become too politicised and whether they have moved away from what they should be concentrating on, which is tackling child sexual abuse and protecting children from harm.

"The issue of a grooming inquiry has become extremely politicised," says Constance.

"I do think it is regretful that others have mischaracterised what that vote in parliament was about."

Analysis: A calm performance but a change of tonepublished at 10:38 GMT 17 December 2025

10:38 GMT 17 December 2025

Kirsten Campbell
BBC Scotland political correspondent

This is the first time Parliament has heard from Angela Constance directly since this row erupted.

She appears reflective and considered.

She’s apologised and sought to explain why she didn’t correct the Parliamentary record.

But MSPs like Willie Rennie seem mystified as to why it’s taken until now for her to acknowledge she could have handled it differently.

It's now Willie Rennie's turn to grill the minister and he tells her "I don't really get this."

The Lib Dem MSP says he has struggled to understand her motivation and he points out different ministers are saying different things on this issue, including John Swinney yesterday

He asks why she wasn't clear from the very beginning.

She replies her position and reasons have been made clear.

The minister accepts an earlier intervention would have been better and it is unsatisfactory that information that was requested has taken so long.

Rennie says what the FM said yesterday differs from what she has said today and she replies she has reflected on her actions.

Analysis: is Constance facing a new row over phone call?published at 10:31 GMT 17 December 2025

10:31 GMT 17 December 2025

Phil Sim
Scotland political correspondent

Going into this meeting, the opposition were focused on whether Angela Constance had broken paragraph 1.7 of the ministerial code – about giving “accurate and truthful information to parliament, correcting any inadvertent error at the earliest opportunity”.

To be honest the debate hasn’t moved hugely on that front, although Prof Jay did say she would like the parliamentary record to be corrected and the justice secretary has pledged to look at how that can be done.

But members have now stumbled on a different issue entirely, in the call Ms Constance made to Professor Jay to apologise that she has been caught up in this row.

Paragraph 8.13 of the ministerial code states that “a government official should be present for all discussions relating to government business” – but the minister says this was a “private call” with no officials present.

Ms Constance says she made sure to send a note of the meeting shortly afterward.

But based on the immediate reactions of opposition members like Douglas Ross, we might have just seen a whole new row open up.

Ross presses the minister on the note she made of her private call to Prof Jay and asks why it was not included in the FOI response.

"I don't know Mr Ross," he says.

The convener asks if the minister is aware of paragraph 8.13 of the ministerial code and she replies she is aware of the ministerial code.

The paragraph he refers to says a government official should be present for discussions relating to government business.

He asks if the she feels she breached the ministerial code and she denies this.

Douglas Ross asks how the minister got Prof Jay's quote which came from a BBC Radio Four interview. Did she listen to the original intervew? he asks.

She replies it was in a briefing note provided to her.

The committee convener then moves to a phone call between Prof Jay and the justice secretary and asks if she requested a private call on 27 November.

"Yes, so I had asked to make a private call to Professor Jay...I thanked her for taking the call.

"At that time I was strongly of the view that I owed Professor Jay a professional apology."

She says she was calling as an individual in relation to quotes she gave as a cabinet secretary.

The minister says there was no official present, it was a private call.

Tory MSP Douglas Ross asks if the minister will correct the official record of parliament in the way Prof Jay wanted.

"I can certainly look at if and how that can be done," replies Angela Constance.

She explains she did not correct the record as she was making a general debating point about the need to get on with the work.

The justice secretary points out the quote she used was correct but that the academic had added context to that.

She says she is not clear how she would correct the record and she understands there is a time limit for such corrections.

Both the Tories and Labour have quoted a grooming gangs survivor known as Taylor and her mother.

The first minister met both earlier this month.

Taylor's mother used an open letter to MSPs to call for them to back the no confidence vote in Angela Constance, describing her position as "untenable".

She described how her daughter was abused from the age of 13 while in care, she was given alcohol and drugs, including vodka, crack cocaine and Valium, and that she was gang-raped and trafficked.

The mother says: "The survivors have told me that they no longer have confidence in Justice Secretary Angela Constance."

She also highlights this article that she has written in the Daily Mail about her daughter's experiences, external.

Committee Convener Douglas Ross asks how the minister felt when she received the email from grooming gangs survivor Taylor's mum saying that victims don't have any confidence in her anymore.

Angela Constance says she always tries very hard to be "sensitive, compassionate and take on board the views of all victims".

"I would never for a minute deny victims the opportunity to speak to their truth."

She explains she has engaged extensively with victims who have been traumatised by offences.

There are always a range of views by victims, with many expressing support for the work she has done, she explains.

"I am very sorry that Taylor and her mum feel the way they do."

"Let me conclude by addressing the most important people here in all of this, that is the victims themselves," says Angela Constance.

She hopes that after today attention can turn to victims and survivors and "the work that we can do together to protect our children".

The justice secretary turns to what she said in the chamber on the 16th of September and her quoting of Prof Jay from an interview in January.

"I did not state that Professor Jay was commenting on Liam Kerr's amendments, I was making a general point on Professor Jay's views on calls for further inquiries."

Education Committee convener Douglas Ross welcomes Justice Secretary Angela Constance and invites her to make a brief opening statement.

The justice secretary says this allows her to put on public record the apology that she gave to Alexis Jay privately for her remarks in the chamber in September.

"It was never my intention to have Professor Jay be the subject of so much intrusion and attention and I very much regret that," she tells the MSPs.