Scotland's top civil servant 'should quit' over damning MSPs' report

THE £160,000-a-year head of Scotland's civil service has been urged to resign after a highly critical parliamentary report accused him of misleading a Holyrood inquiry.

In an unprecedented attack, the public audit committee of the Scottish Parliament accused Sir John Elvidge of giving "totally unacceptable" evidence during an inquiry into the extension of FirstGroup's £2.5 billion deal to operate train services.

The committee went on to claim the impartial civil service led by Sir John was guilty of "obstruction", a "lack of co-operation" and a lack of "transparency" in its dealings with the committee.

It is rare for civil servants to be criticised, even slightly, by MSPs but it is almost unheard of for someone of Sir John's position to be attacked in such a way.

Civil servants regularly give evidence to Holyrood committees but, unlike politicians, they must remain impartial and give clear, accurate and informative evidence when asked.

Labour MSP Lord Foulkes said the position of Sir John – the Permanent Secretary at the Scottish Government – was now untenable. "I think Sir John Elvidge will have to consider his position and he should go," Lord Foulkes said.

Opposition leaders stepped back from calling for Sir John to go but demanded an emergency statement by the transport minister, Stewart Stevenson.

Presiding Officer Alex Fergusson has now been asked to look into the issue and will report back to parliament when he has investigated the matter.

A spokesman for Sir John said he would not resign but would take the committee's conclusions on board and learn lessons from them.

The critical report represented the committee's findings following its inquiry into the First ScotRail passenger franchise and the share dealings of Transport Scotland finance chief Guy Houston.

Several civil servants, including Sir John, gave evidence to the committee but the MSPs found their evidence so difficult to penetrate that one Labour MSP, Hugh Henry, accused them publicly of talking "a huge element of bull****" during one session.

Yesterday's report was more precise and parliamentary in its language, but no less damning.

"The committee considers it discourteous and obstructive that some of the evidence gathered during the course of its inquiry was only made available after repeated requests," the report said.

And it added: "The committee's work has been frustrated by having to prise information from senior civil servants and having persistently to question responses given."

The report concluded: "The committee requests that the Presiding Officer gives consideration as to how parliamentary committees can discharge their functions when there is a lack of co-operation and transparency on the part of others."

In the wake of the report, Labour MSP Lord Foulkes, a member of the committee, said: "I think that Sir John Elvidge will have to consider his position, and he should go.

"He was evasive in the evidence he gave the committee and it was extremely hard to get details out of him. He gave incorrect facts and had to come back to make corrections."

But a Scottish Government spokesman rejected Lord Foulkes's call. He said: "The Permanent Secretary will give the report early attention. Our officials are absolutely clear about the importance of providing accurate information.

"The issues raised by the committee were complex, and in some cases related to personal information, and officials will consider whether there are lessons that can be learned."

The spokesman said there were no plans to discipline any other civil servants.

The furore concerns the extension of FirstGroup's £2.5bn deal. Mr Houston, then Transport Scotland's finance chief, held shares in FirstGroup.

How doubts grew over shareholding and 'conflict of interest' risk

GUY Houston resigned last November just as public spending watchdogs revealed he had attended discussions over the ScotRail franchise extension despite holding shares in the company running the train operator.

The finance and corporate affairs director for Transport Scotland, which is in charge of the rail franchise, had retained FirstGroup shares from his previous job as finance director of the firm's bus division.

Audit Scotland said it was not clear whether Mr Houston had declared an interest or removed himself from the franchise-extension discussions he attended in March last year.

MSPs went further yesterday, raising questions about how the official had declared his shareholding in the first place, its subsequent transfer to his wife, and his involvement in other meetings about the franchise.

Mr Houston joined Transport Scotland in May 2006 and more than quadrupled his FirstGroup shares to 12,375 by March last year, as he exercised share options which could be taken only within certain time periods.

However, the public audit committee said the shareholding should have been formally declared immediately after Mr Houston's appointment, as required by civil service regulations, not nine months later.

Mr Houston transferred his shareholding to his wife days before he resigned, which the committee said had given the impression he had "disposed of his shares in an attempt to remove a perception that there was a conflict of interest".

MSPs also said they had received "wholly inaccurate" information about Mr Houston's attendance at franchise-extension discussions, and found he had been at key meetings before a decision was made.