A newspaper has claimed the Scottish Government has made it impossible for the public to check whether the more than 450 Public Servants holding external roles could pose a conflict of interest.
The Scotsman newspaper said it had received a document from the Government following a Freedom of Information request where almost every role had been redacted.
It said the list had been “completely anonymised”, with no senior Public Servant named, making it impossible to cross-reference the roles with any potential conflicts of interest.
The redactions are currently the subject of an appeal by the newspaper.
According to an analysis of the roles by The Scotsman, around a quarter of the external interests had expired by the date of disclosure, with more than 350 still actively held by Public Servants working within the Government.
It comes after significant criticism of potential double-jobbing in the United Kingdom Public Service when it was revealed a senior Public Servant had advised the finance firm Greensill, while still working for the Government.
The lack of transparency around the Scottish roles was criticised by opposition parties, with Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Willie Rennie (pictured) labelling the list as “utterly useless”.
“After the scandalous revelations over double jobbing and conflicts of interest in Westminster, you would think that the Scottish Government would want to open the books and demonstrate there were no such problems here,” Mr Rennie said.
“I hope that there is currently a Civil Servant going through these records and working out if there are any conflicts of interest at play because the Government has made it impossible for the public to do so,” he said.
Mr Rennie urged First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon to take measures to prevent a similar scandal from unfolding “at the heart of the Scottish Government”.
A spokesperson for the Government said there would be no comment while the FOI request was under review.
Edinburgh, 17 June 2021
