Hansard

The details of the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee’s consideration of the complaint that was made against Annie Wells MSP are set out in the report that the committee published on 1 November. The report includes a copy of the investigation by the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland.

In summary, the complaint was that Annie Wells sought political advantage by making advance public comment on the Equalities and Human Rights Committee’s report, “Prisoner Voting in Scotland”.

The Parliament has made it clear that when a committee deems information to be confidential, notably in relation to a committee report, the information should remain confidential until any agreed publication date.

The Equalities and Human Rights Committee had agreed that its report be subject to an embargo until 14 May. However, comments on the report attributed to Annie Wells were included in a press release issued on 11 May and were subsequently reported in a newspaper on the same day.

The commissioner therefore concluded that Annie Wells had breached the confidentiality rules in paragraphs 12, 15 and 16 of section 7 of the code of conduct for MSPs.

The SPPA committee noted Annie Wells’s explanation, as recorded in the commissioner’s report, which was that her remarks merely reflected her party’s long-standing position and had been prompted by inquiries from the press. However, in her comments, Ms Wells had referred to the committee’s deliberations and expressed the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party’s dissent with the committee’s report.

That is a breach of the code of conduct. When an MSP discloses the details of an unpublished committee report, particularly to record dissent, that seriously undermines the report’s impact and is deeply disrespectful to fellow committee members and everyone who was involved in the inquiry.

Any MSP who finds themselves in a position of uncertainty can take advice from committee or standards clerks before they respond to an inquiry, to satisfy themselves that actions that they wish to take do not breach the code of conduct.

The Standards, Procedures and Appointments Committee agreed unanimously with the findings in fact and conclusions of the commissioner. The committee also agreed unanimously to recommend to the Parliament a sanction that it considered to be proportionate and reasonable.

The committee considered previous breaches of the code of conduct that were of a similar nature and agreed that the sanctions against Annie Wells should mirror the sanctions that had been given for those breaches. Therefore, the committee agreed to recommend to the Parliament that Annie Wells MSP be excluded from all meetings of the Parliament and its committees for the first five sitting days immediately after the motion is agreed to.

I move,

That the Parliament notes the 6th Report, 2018 (Session 5) of the Standards and Public Appointments Committee Complaint against Annie Wells MSP (SP Paper 408) and agrees to impose the sanction recommended in the report that Annie Wells MSP be excluded from all meetings of the Parliament and all meetings of its committees for the first five sitting days after this motion is agreed.