Evidence
In its letter to the Permanent Secretary dated 19 May, the
Committee sought information from the Scottish Government in relation to the judicial
review. The following evidence from the Scottish Government has been
published in line with the Committee's written statement on the handling of
evidence. Redactions in purple have been made by the Scottish Parliament in accordance with that statement, all others have been made by the Scottish Government.
The Committee also requested from the Scottish Government a
written statement with an overview of the roles and responsibilities in
relation to the Scottish Government’s conduct of litigation generally and in
this case in particular; the extent to which the Scottish Government kept
emerging details and prospects of success under review; and how the decision to
settle was taken, including the timing of the decision and what factors
contributed to the cost of settlement.
Each individual PDF is linked to a footnote within the
Scottish Government's written statement - for example, Phase2FN15 is the
documents provided by the Scottish Government to support footnote 15 in its
written statement.
This page should be referred to alongside the written
evidence page, which contains information relating to the whole inquiry,
including this phase of the inquiry.
The Convener wrote to the Permanent Secretary on 11 August 2020 regarding the evidence provided by the Scottish Government in relation to the judicial review:
Access to legal advice
At its meeting on 15 December the Committee agreed—
That the Committee considers that in order to discharge its duties, it needs to see the legal advice from counsel and associated minutes of meetings relating to the Judicial Review with LPP waived and that this needs to be published in the interests of transparency; agrees to continue discussions with the Scottish Government including to secure access to this legal advice in a reading room to be provided by 14 January 2021; in the interim accepts the Scottish Government offer to read the former DGODO’s report of 29th December 2018; subject to agreement that notes can be taken to refer to in questioning Scottish Government witnesses and that these witnesses should not refer to legal privilege in answering questions relating to the report; insists that the SG waives LPP over the document so as to enable publication of whatever contents the Committee deems fit.
The Committee agreed the terms of an offer negotiated with the Government on 18 December to access the report referred to in the motion in a reading room on 22 December:
Link to the written agreement (88KB pdf)
Following the discussions with the Scottish Government, Committee Convener, Linda Fabiani MSP said—
“The Committee has been consistently clear on its position on legal advice. The Committee believes that to fulfil the vital task that Parliament has set it, it needs to see legal advice including from counsel. It continues to push to see this advice in full and believes that it has to be published.
“In the meantime, the Committee has agreed to accept the terms of an offer negotiated with the Scottish Government to read a report which includes some of the legal advice. A redacted copy of this report will publish after the Committee sees the full report on 22 December.”
Evidence and related correspondence
Evidence from the Scottish Government
Scottish Government written statement, 20 July 2020
Phase2FN15
Phase2FN16
Written statement on Scottish Government participation in the Judicial Review: chronology of events, 7 September 2020 (688KB pdf)
Letter from the Deputy First Minister to the Convener, 21 September 2020 (185KB pdf)
Detailed chronology of Scottish Government participation in the Judicial Review, 21 September 2020 (716KB pdf)
Letter from the Convener to the Deputy First Minister, 7 October 2020 (149KB pdf)
Open Record from Judicial Review Proceedings (3091KB pdf)
Letter from the Deputy First Minister to the Convener, 26 October 2020 (238KB pdf)
Further timeline from the Scottish Government relating to the Judicial Review (1,140KB pdf)
On 22 December 2020 Committee members were given access in a reading room to a report prepared by the then Director General for Organisational Development and Operations (DGODO) in late December 2018 for the Permanent Secretary.
A redacted version of this report along with an accompanying letter and documents from the Scottish Government can be found below:
Letter from the Deputy First Minister to the Convener, 21 December 2020 (160KB pdf)
Following the reading room access on 22 December the Convener wrote to the Deputy First Minister on 23 December 2020 with regards to access to legal advice.
The Convener responded to the Deputy First Minister’s letter on 2 March 2021:
Evidence submitted by Alex Salmond
Legal firm Levy & McRae, representing the Former First Minister Alex Salmond, submitted documents relating to the Judicial Review for the Committee's consideration (please note due to the size of this file it may take several minutes to open this document):
Documents submitted by Levy & McRae (7,027KB pdf)
Levy & McRae also submitted the initial version of the Judicial Review Petition (this document is also contained within the above bundle of documents):
Initial version of Petition submitted by Levy & McRae (1.47MB pdf)
Levy & McRae have additionally submitted Alex Salmond's written submission on Judicial Review (this document is also published in the Written Evidence page):
Written submission on Judicial Review received from Alex Salmond, 27 January 2021(498KB pdf)
Levy & McRae submitted additional documents on the Judicial Review:
Minute of Proceedings provided by Levy & McRae (223KB pdf)
Submission from Alex Salmond on the publication of legal advice (360KB pdf)
Other correspondence relating to this phase of the inquiry
The Committee wrote to the Permanent Secretary on 2 September 2019 regarding media reports on the Scottish Government payment of the expenses of the civil litigation on the judicial review:
Letter from the Convener to the Permanent Secretary, 2 September 2019 (95KB pdf)
The Permanent Secretary responded to the Convener's letter of 2 September on 4 September 2019:
Letter from the Permanent Secretary to the Convener, 4 September 2019 (74KB pdf)
At its meeting on 5 September 2019, the Committee agreed to write back to the Permanent Secretary. This letter was sent on 12 September 2019 (this letter is also published on the main correspondence page):
Letter from the Convener to the Permanent Secretary, 12 September 2019 (81KB pdf)
The Permanent Secretary responded to this letter on 26 September 2019 (this letter is also published on the general correspondence page):
Letter from the Permanent Secretary to the Convener, 26 September 2019 (228KB pdf)
At its meeting on 2 October 2019, the Committee agreed to write back to the Permanent Secretary. This letter was sent on 9 October 2019 (this letter is also published on the general correspondence page):
Letter from the Convener to the Permanent Secretary, 9 October 2019 (100KB pdf)
The Permanent Secretary responded on 31 October 2019:
Letter from the Permanent Secretary to the Convener, 31 October 2019 (245KB pdf)
The Deputy First Minister wrote to the Convener on 14 August 2020 in response to the Convener's letter of 11 August 2020 (published in the "Evidence" section at the top of this page). The DFM's response has also been published on the general correspondence page:
Letter from the Deputy First Minister to the Convener, 14 August 2020 (201KB pdf)
The Convener wrote to the Deputy First Minister on 21 August 2020 in response to his letter of 14 August 2020:
Letter from the Convener to the Deputy First Minister, 21 August 2020 (72KB pdf)
The Convener wrote to the Permanent Secretary on 28 August 2020 in response to her letter of 8 September (which is published on the written evidence page). The Convener's letter is also published on the phase 1 inquiry page:
Letter from the Convener to the Permanent Secretary, 28 August 2020 (89KB pdf)
The Convener wrote to the Lord Advocate on 28 August 2020 inviting him to give evidence to the Committee:
Letter from the Convener to the Lord Advocate, 28 August 2020 (88KB pdf)
The Convener wrote to the Deputy First Minister on 2 September 2020 with regards to the evidence submitted by the Scottish Government as part of this phase of the inquiry:
Letter from the Convener to the Deputy First Minister (559KB pdf)
The Deputy First Minister responded to the Convener on 7 September 2020:
Letter from the Deputy First Minister to the Convener, 7 September 2020 (168KB pdf)
Levy & McRae Solicitors LLP, representing Former First Minister Alex Salmond, wrote to Committee clerks on 4 September 2020:
Letter from Levy & McRae to Clerks, 4 September 2020 (248KB pdf)
The Convener responded to Levy & McRae on 10 September 2020:
Letter from the Convener to Levy & McRae, 10 September 2020 (86KB pdf)
The Committee received two letters from Levy & McRae Solicitors LLP on 21 September 2020:
Letter from Levy & McRae to Clerks, 21 September 2020 (46KB pdf)
Letter from Levy & McRae to Clerks, 21 September 2020 (45KB pdf)
The Convener responded to Levy & McRae's letter of 21 September on 30 September 2020:
Letter from the Convener to Levy & McRae, 30 September 2020 (98KB pdf)
The Convener wrote to the Principal Clerk of Session and Justiciary, 30 September 2020:
Letter from the Convener to Principal Clerk, 30 September 2020 (161KB pdf)
The Principal Clerk of Session and Justiciary responded to the Convener's letter of 30 September on 6 October 2020:
Letter from the Principal Clerk to the Convener, 6 October 2020 (78KB pdf)
The Convener responded to the Deputy First Minister's letter of 21 September 2020 on 30 September 2020 (this letter is also published on the general correspondence page):
Letter from the Convener to the Deputy First Minister, 30 September 2020 (105KB pdf)
The Deputy First Minister responded to this letter on 6 October 2020 (this letter is also published on the general correspondence page):
Letter from the Deputy First Minister on 6 October 2020 (182KB pdf)
The Convener received a letter from the legal firm Levy & McRae Solicitors LLP on 5 October 2020:
Letter from Levy & McRae to the Convener, 5 October 2020 (41KB pdf)
The Convener wrote to both the Deputy First Minister and legal firm Levy & McRae on 12 October 2020 requesting judicial review documents:
Letter from the Convener to the Deputy First Minister, 12 October 2020 (245KB pdf)
Letter from the Convener to Levy & McRae, 12 October 2020 (243KB pdf)
The Convener received a response to her letters of 12 October from Levy & McRae on 13 October and from the Deputy first Minister on 14 October:
Letter from Levy & McRae to the Convener, 13 October 2020 (40KB pdf)
Letter from the Deputy First Minister to the Convener, 14 October 2020 (256KB pdf)
The Convener responded to the Deputy First Minister's letter of 14 October on 19 October 2020:
Letter from the Convener to the Deputy First Minister, 19 October 2020 (98KB pdf)
The Convener received three letters from Levy & McRae dated 21, 22 and 26 October:
Letter from Levy & McRae to the Convener, 21 October 2020 (45KB pdf)
Letter from Levy & McRae to the Convener, 22 October 2020 (118KB pdf)
Letter from Levy & McRae to the Convener, 26 October 2020 (178KB pdf)
The Convener responded to these letters on 6 November 2020 (this letter has also been published on the main correspondence page):
Letter from the Convener to Levy & McRae, 6 November 2020 (156KB pdf)
The Convener wrote to the Lord Advocate on 5 November 2020 requesting information from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service:
Letter from the Convener to Lord Advocate, 5 November 2020 (81.6KB pdf)
The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service responded to the Convener’s letter of 5 November on 10 November 2020:
Letter from COPFS to the Convener, 10 November 2020 (132KB pdf)
The Convener wrote to the Deputy First Minister on 6 November 2020 regarding the evidence submitted by the Scottish Government and the assertion of legal processional privilege (this letter has also been published on the main correspondence page):
Letter from the Convener to the Deputy First Minister, 6 November 2020 (104KB pdf)
The Convener wrote to the Deputy First Minister on 10 November 2020 regarding the provision of the Scottish Government’s legal advice to the Committee:
Letter from the Convener to the Deputy First Minister, 10 November 2020 (74KB pdf)
The Deputy First Minister responded to the Convener's letters of 6 and 10 November on 13 November 2020 (this letter has also been published on the main correspondence page):
Letter from the Deputy First Minister to the Convener, 13 November 2020 (199KB pdf)
The Convener responded to the Deputy First Minister’s letter of 13 November on 26 November:
Letter from the Convener to the Deputy First Minister, 26 November 2020 (74KB pdf)
The Deputy First Minister wrote to the Presiding Officer and Convener on 1 December 2020 in response to the Convener's letter of 26 November regarding the release of legal advice.
Letter from the Deputy First Minister to the Presiding Officer and Convener, 1 December 2020 (55.8KB pdf)
Following Committee members accessing the report on 22 December referred to in the motion detailed above, the Convener wrote to the Deputy First Minister regarding access to legal advice.
Letter from the Convener to the Deputy First Minister, 23 December 2020 (114KB pdf)
The Convener wrote again to the Deputy First Minister on 22 January, again requesting access to the Scottish Government's legal advice:
Letter from the Convener to the Deputy First Minister, 22 January 2021 (108KB pdf)
The Deputy First Minister responded to this letter on 29 January:
Letter from the Deputy First Minister to the Convener, 29 January 2021 (60KB pdf)
The Convener wrote to Levy & McRae requesting documents related to the inquiry on 2 March 2021:
Letter from the Convener to Levy & McRae, 2 March 2021 (116KB pdf)