War of the wards

With accusations flying right, left and centre about ministers misleading parliament, it's easy to dismiss yet another one.

But Health Secretary Alex Neil is facing some serious questions after using his office to intervene with his local health board over hospital services in his constituency.
When he was challenged about it at Holyrood 11 days ago, his answer was far from complete.
The Ministerial Code may be relevant here for other reasons too.
Here's a longer version of the story in today's Sunday Herald.
 

 

EXCLUSIVE

Tom Gordon

Scottish Political Editor

HEALTH Secretary Alex Neil has become the latest minister to be accused of misleading parliament after intervening in a row over services at a hospital in his Airdrie & Shotts constituency.

He told MSPs earlier this month that a final decision on proposals to move in-patient mental health services from Monklands Hospital to Wishaw General had been delegated to his deputy Michael Matheson to avoid a conflict of interest.

But NHS Lanarkshire has now revealed that Neil contacted them through his officials just days after becoming health secretary in September, and expressed his reservations about the proposal.

Neil had already objected to the plan, as the local MSP, before becoming health secretary.

According to NHS Lanarkshire, Neil asked to review the proposals before they were submitted to its board members for a final decision.

NHS Lanarkshire has now agreed to review them in light of his feedback.

Labour said Neil’s words in parliament couldn’t be squared with NHS Lanarkshire’s account.

They also accused him of trying to rewrite the proposals before they went to his deputy for a final decision in a fait accompli.

Neil campaigning in 2011

The provision of hospital services within Airdrie & Shotts has long been a key political issue in the area, with the fate of the Monklands A&E unit a hot topic in the 2011 election campaign.

Labour, defending the seat, claimed the SNP government might close the A&E unit.

As the SNP candidate, Neil insisted it wouldn't and won the seat.

After the election, the provision of in-patient mental health services at Monklands came to the fore.

NHS Lanarkshire has been consulting of whether to centralise the services at Wishaw General.

In August 2011, Neil told his local paper he wanted continuity at both Monklands and Wishaw.

“I strongly believe it to be essential that both retain an in-patient mental health unit.”

Barely three weeks later, Neil got the chance to have a far greater say in the matter when he replaced Nicola Sturgeon as health secretary in a reshuffle.

After hearing that Neil had indeed used his new position to intervene, Central Scotland Labour MSP Siobhan McMahon contacted NHS Lanarkshire.

On September 17, twelve days after Neil's move from the infrastructure portfolio to health, the board's head of communications emailed McMahon's office with a confirmation.

"In response to your question regarding the status of the Modernising Mental Health proposals I can advise you that the new Cabinet Secretary has asked for some time to review the proposals prior to it going to our Board.  We expect to hear back from the Cabinet Secretary soon."

 

On October 30, the Lanarkshire mental health website Elament also carried a statement about the issue.

"Prior to the proposals being taken to the NHS Lanarkshire Board for consideration, they were submitted to the Scottish Government Health Department as part of the consultation process.

"The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing has expressed some reservations regarding the provision of acute inpatient mental health services at Monklands Hospital.

"In light of the Cabinet Secretary's feedback, NHS Lanarkshire is reviewing the proposals. NHS Lanarkshire will keep stakeholders informed as this work progresses."



Neil outside Monkands Hospital

A fortnight later, on November 14, McMahon challenged Neil about his intervention in parliament.

Siobhan McMahon (Central Scotland) (Lab): While we await the appointment of a new chair, the cabinet secretary has recently intervened in provision of mental health services by NHS Lanarkshire. Does he intend to intervene on reviews of acute services in all areas prior to those reviews being considered by the relevant health boards and, of course, before crucial appointments are made?

Alex Neil: There is an issue about the future of mental health services at Monklands hospital. Because it lies in my constituency, that matter is being dealt with by my ministerial colleague, Michael Matheson.
 

However it now appears that Matheson's decision will only be the final link in a chain which Neil has helped forge.

 

Matheson will decide whether to approve the plan which finally emerges from the board in the New Year, but in the meantime Neil seems to be shaping that same plan to his liking, which would reduce Matheson's role to that of a rubberstamp.

    

Labour also believe Neil may have fallen foul of the Ministerial Code, which says ministers must avoid any conflict of interest when dealing with an issue which directly affects their constituency.

 

Constituency Interests

7.5 Where Ministers have to take decisions within their area of portfolio responsibility which might have an impact on their own constituency or region, they must take particular care to avoid any possible conflict of interest. They should advise the Permanent Secretary and, in the case of junior Scottish Ministers, the relevant Cabinet Secretary of the interest, and responsibilities should be arranged to avoid any conflict of interest.

 

McMahon said: “It appears that Mr Neil has joined the growing number of SNP Ministers who have misled parliament. 

"More importantly, it looks as if he has abused his position as Cabinet Secretary by meddling in NHS operational matters within his own constituency, and derailing a modernisation process which was a crucial part of renovating Monklands Hospital.”

NHS Lanarkshire last night said Neil had not been in touch personally, but said government officials had conveyed Neil’s views to the board.

A spokesman said: “NHS Lanarkshire has been developing plans to continue the modernisation of mental health services in Lanarkshire.

“Prior to the proposals being taken to the NHS Lanarkshire board for consideration they were submitted to the Scottish Government Health Department as part of the consultation process.

“The new Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing has expressed some reservations regarding the provision of acute inpatient mental health services at Monklands Hospital.

“We are currently reviewing the proposals before submission to the Board early in the new year.“Throughout this process there has been no direct contact between the Health Secretary and NHS Lanarkshire. All communications have come from Scottish Government officials.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “NHS Lanarkshire have yet to put forward their revised proposals for reform of mental health services to the Scottish Government.

"When a decision is required, the proposals will be put to Minister for Public Health Michael Matheson due to the issue concerning matters in Mr Neil’s constituency.” 

 

Less than appealing

There's yet another twist in the never-ending EU legal advice row today.

This blog has obtained a copy of the FoI appeal (now abandoned) which was lodged by ministers at the Court of Session.

To be fair, it never suggests that the advice exists.

However it does make the extraordinary claim that confirming its non-existence would cause the "exactly" same harm as revealing the content of any advice which did exist.
I think the legal term for that is 'total pants'.

EXCLUSIVE

Tom Gordon 

MINISTERS told Scotland’s highest court it would cause “mischief” to reveal if they had legal advice on the status of an independent Scotland in Europe when none existed.

The claim appears in a confidential submission to the Court of Session which also suggests ministers would be “deprived of space to develop and formulate policy” if the full facts came out.

Alex Salmond’s government is already under fire after admitting last month that it had never had specific legal advice on Scotland in the EU, despite insisting for years that entry would be automatic.

The same day as the admission, the SNP government abandoned a legal challenge on the issue.

The case concerned Labour MEP Catherine Stihler who asked last year to see any legal advice on EU entry under freedom of information (FoI).

The government refused, but in July Scotland’s Information Commissioner, Rosemary Agnew, ordered ministers to say if they held any advice, arguing there was a “strong public interest” in establishing if it existed, even if the contents remained private.

Claiming Agnew had “erred in law”, ministers launched an appeal at the Court of Session, and a full hearing was scheduled for late December.

It was this case which was dropped last month.

Because the case ended early, the background paperwork would ordinarily remain secret.

However this blog has obtained the appeal which ministers lodged against Agnew’s decision.

In her ruling, Agnew drew a clear distinction between the existence of advice and content.

She readily conceded that if there was advice it would be too sensitive to release under FoI, but said it was still in the public interest to know if it existed, given the important subject.

But in its appeal, the government argued there was no distinction in principle, claiming that merely disclosing whether advice existed would be just as damaging as disclosing its content.

It said: “The requirement to disclose the process being followed in policy formulation or the type of information being taken into account would result in exactly the same mischief as disclosure of the information itself.

“Either would cause the appellants [Scottish ministers] to be deprived of space to develop and formulate policy in the manner considered most conducive by them free from external pressure.”

The crux of the Scottish Government appeal: Yes, this is for real

Agnew’s side strongly denied this was the case.

The row over legal advice has dominated the recent independence debate, as the SNP insists Scotland would become an automatic EU member and avoid the euro, while others say membership would have to be negotiated, with adopting the euro a possibility.

Recent sabre-rattling by Spain, which wants to avoid wealthy Catalonia seceding, has also raised the prospect of other EU countries obstructing or delaying Scottish entry to deter separatist movements within their own borders.

Scottish LibDem leader Willie Rennie said: “The SNP has been exploiting the might of government to act in their own, narrow political interest.

“It was a cynical development that has undermined further trust in Alex Salmond’s government. It’s not the court’s responsibility to be concerned with what causes mischief for a political party.”

A Labour source added: “This case was never about avoiding mischief in government, it was about avoiding embarrassment for the First Minister.”

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “The case concerned whether decisions about public interest in the release of certain information are for the Scottish Government or the [FoI] Commissioner. By long-standing convention, successive Scottish and UK Governments have not disclosed the fact or content of legal advice except in exceptional circumstances.”

Weir Meet Again

With calls for an overhaul of the Ministerial Code in the air, plus a stooshie over the Scottish Government and FoI today, here's a tale that combines the two.

EXCLUSIVE

Tom Gordon

ALEX Salmond has invited two of the SNP’s richest donors to his official residence for a second time despite controversy over their first visit, prompting a fresh round of criticism.

Correspondence obtained by this blog  shows the First Minister has asked Euro lottery winners Colin and Chris Weir to pay a return visit to Bute House in Edinburgh.

The invite went out just a day after Salmond was cleared of breaching the ministerial code by entertaining the couple at the taxypayer-funded mansion last year.



Chris and Colin Weir: Party on

The Weirs, who become Europe’s biggest lottery winners in July 2011 by scooping £161m, were first guests at Bute House in September 2011. 

Four days later, the Largs couple each gave £500,000 to the SNP, the largest single day’s donation in the party’s history.

However their presence was not made public in official hospitality records, as Mr Salmond provided only tea and biscuits at his own expense, not food or alcohol from the public purse.

When the sequence of events finally emerged in March, Labour accused the First Minister of sleaze and of misusing his official residence to help raise funds for his party.

Labour MSP Paul Martin also claimed the First Minister had breached the ministerial code of conduct, leading to an investigation by former Lord Advice Dame Elish Angiolini.

After the First Minister said there was no discussion of money or donations during the visit, and that the tea and biscuits were from his own supply, she concluded there was no breach and no evidence to justify Mr Martin’s complaint.

Dame Elish also noted Mr Salmond knew Mr Weir from his past activity in the SNP - he was a party candidate and publicity convener in the 1980s.

Her report was published on 14 June.

The next day, the First Minister wrote a jokey note to the Weirs to say he was in the clear.

He said: “I am writing to let you know that the circumstances of your visit to Bute House on 9 September have been fully investigated and Dame Elish Angiolini has cleared me of any wrong doing in relation to tea and biscuits!

“Now that the dust has settled I would like to invite you back to Bute House at a mutually convenient time. 
"My office will be in touch to make the arrangements.”

Salmond letter to Weirs

It is not the first time the First Minister has had wealthy SNP donors round to Charlotte Square.
Businessman Ian Watson, who donated £138,750 to the party between 2005 and 2009, and his wife Victoria, who contributed £12,500 in 2005, were guests at a lunch in July last year to mark the official opening of the Scottish Parliament. 
Former Unliver executive David McCarthy and his wife were also dinner guests at Bute House after a royal garden party in July 2010.
McCarthy, a past president of the SNP’s Ochil branch, donated £5,045 to the party in 2007. 
Martin said: “Not only does Alex Salmond control the code which oversees his conduct, but he is now laughing at its integrity.

Tea at Bute House

“This reinforces our call for the Code to be re-examined - a proper means of ensuring good conduct by Government ministers is now needed.”
The Government said Mr Salmond and the Weirs had not met at Bute House since the June letter, and no meeting had yet been scheduled, however there was an expectation that they would meet soon.
A spokeswoman said: “This is utterly desperate from Labour. An independent investigation confirmed that the First Minister was absolutely entitled to invite the Weirs to meet him at Bute House to congratulate them on their good fortune and there is no reason why he should not meet them again.
"It is time Labour dropped the sour grapes and accepted the findings of the independent investigation instead of making continual complaints under the Ministerial Code and never accepting the findings.”