The FDA union, which represents senior Public Servants, has told a Scottish Parliamentary inquiry into the Government’s handling of harassment claims that a “culture of fear” existed in the office of then First Minister, Alex Salmond (pictured).
In a document presented to officials, the FDA said it had raised complaints about the working environment in Mr Salmond’s and other Scottish National Party (SNP) Ministers’ offices around 10 years ago.
The document, compiled by General Secretary of the FDA, Dave Penman does not identify any Ministers by name, nor does it claim Mr Salmond was responsible for the bullying.
In a discussion about the publication of a Public Service Fairness at Work policy in September 2010, the document states: “Around this time, the culture within the former First Minister’s office and other Ministerial offices in relation to bullying behaviour became a concern for us and was raised with successive Permanent Secretaries.”
“Although action was taken and short-term improvements or apologies were made, this did not bring about an overall change in culture,” it said.
Some union members had made it clear to the FDA “they did not trust SG (Scottish Government) to handle complaints effectively or to ensure confidentiality of the complainants”.
The document said individuals had spoken in confidence to the union “and did not wish to raise complaints because they thought this may be detrimental to their career aspirations or their current role”.
The Holyrood investigation was launched into the Scottish Government’s own botched attempt to investigate harassment claims made against Mr Salmond.
Mr Salmond objected to the way the Government had handled the complaints and took legal action against the institution that he used to lead.
A judicial review at the Court of Session found the process had been “tainted by apparent bias” because the lead investigating official had been in prior contact with Mr Salmond’s accusers.
The Scottish Government was then forced to pay out more than £500,000 ($A911,780) for Mr Salmond’s legal costs.
The former First Minister has also faced criminal charges, after a high-profile trial, he was cleared of 13 charges of sexual assault.
Edinburgh, 15 August 2020
