The Justice Secretary contacted Professor Alexis Jay about claims she misrepresented her on gangs.
Justice Secretary Angela Constance made a “personal and direct” apology to a top expert on grooming gangs over claims she misrepresented her at Holyrood.. Constance said sorry to Professor Alexis Jay for her name being “bandied” about the Parliament.
Constance survived a no confidence vote this week after claiming in September that Jay did not support further inquiries into child sexual abuse and exploitation. The SNP Government has so far resisted an inquiry along the lines already set up for south of the border.
But Jay had been referring to England and Wales, not Scotland, and the SNP MSP was accused of misrepresenting her in Parliament. SNP and Green MSPs defeated the no confidence vote on Tuesday, but Jay and Constance gave evidence to Holyrood’s education committee on the row today.
Asked by Tory MSP Miles Briggs whether Constance had apologised, Jay said: “She apologised for my name being bandied around in the parliament.” Jay said she had never “sought” an apology and had instead asked for clarification, which was provided in the minute of a Government working group.
READ MORE: MSP told mum of grooming gang rape victim inquiry could make life more risky for young peopleREAD MORE: Angela Constance survives grooming gangs no confidence vote after support from Greens
In her own evidence to the committee, Constance confirmed making a private apology to Jay. She also said she regretted the “intrusion” caused for Jay: “I was strongly of the view that I owed Professor Jay a professional apology.”
She added: “Could I have expressed myself differently? I am quite sure i could have.”
She also said she would “certainly look” at whether her views could be corrected in the formal record of the parliament.
Professor Jay had previously authored a report into the sexual exploitation of children in Rotherham.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has now written to independent advisers on the Scottish Ministerial Code, urging them to investigate.
He wrote: “I am writing to you with regards to the recent statements of Justice Secretary Angela Constance concerning grooming gangs and organised child sexual exploitation in Scotland.
“A core part of the Ministerial Code is a responsibility to provide honest and accurate information to the Parliament, and by extension the public, but I am concerned that Angela Constance has misled Parliament on perhaps one of the most serious issues in her brief.
“In September of this year, the Justice Secretary dismissed calls for an inquiry or review of the evidence on the operation of grooming gangs in Scotland. In doing so, the Justice Secretary quoted Professor Alexis Jay, stating that she agreed with the Justice Secretary’s own views, giving the impression that it was Professor Jay’s opinion that such an inquiry or review was not required in Scotland.
“It has subsequently become clear that this was a misrepresentation of Professor Jay’s view.”
The no confidence vote was defeated by 57 votes to 67, with one abstention, with First Minister John Swinney insisting during the debate that he had “full confidence” in Constance.
Swinney said: “Angela Constance has my full confidence as Justice Secretary, she is getting on with the job of making Scotland safer and I will urge members to enable her to continue doing that by rejecting this motion today.”
He said afterwards there are “a whole series of actions in place” which Constance has been working on “to make sure that legitimate concerns of the victims of childhood sexual abuse and exploitation are addressed”.
The First Minister said a “major part” of this work is the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, which the Justice Secretary established in 2015, along with “various other steps” the government is taking.
