John Swinney faces questions over the behaviour of his officials after they targeted parliamentary witnesses in a systematic lobbying campaign.
Members of Holyrood’s education committee are understood to have been angered by revelations that civil servants set up meetings with witnesses days before they were due to give evidence about the controversial named person scheme, in an apparent bid to influence their testimony.
MSPs yesterday agreed to write to the deputy first minister to demand an explanation, saying his staff deliberately attempted to undermine their efforts to scrutinise legislation. Some members feel witnesses softened their criticism of the government, compared with written testimony.
They also have questions about responses Mr Swinney gave to the committee when asked about possible interference. In November he appeared to deny that information had been shared with witnesses and suggested meetings with the groups were routine. Emails obtained by The Times under a Freedom of Information request show officials deliberately sought to identify witnesses and then set up meetings before they gave evidence.
Johann Lamont, the deputy convenor of the committee, told a meeting of the committee: “I’m prepared to ask John Swinney for an initial response to what’s been done in his name.”
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It is understood that in the private session, other MSPs agreed to Ms Lamont’s suggestion with no members, including SNP politicians, dissenting. A letter inviting Mr Swinney to comment has been sent by the convenor, James Dornan, and members plan to discuss his reponse on February 7.
The government’s named person scheme, in which a state-appointed figure would be assigned to every child to look out for their wellbeing, is under scrutiny after the Supreme Court ruled some aspects were illegal. Ministers are seeking to fix the law with a new bill.
The government said it wanted to “ensure that those affected by developing law and policy are well informed [and] their concerns are heard”.