Angela Constance apologises to grooming gangs expert | UK News

Justice Secretary Angela Constance has publicly apologised to a grooming gangs expert after being accused of misrepresenting her views.

Opposition MSPs have called for Constance to resign over comments made about Prof Alexis Jay in parliament.

The SNP minister survived a vote of no confidence brought by opposition MSPs who claim the chamber was misled, but she faced further scrutiny at a committee hearing.

Constance told Holyrood’s health committee that she had not wanted Prof Jay to become the focus of “so much intrusion and attention”.

The justice secretary said that she initially made the apology in a “personal” telephone conversation with the academic, but denied that she had breached the ministerial code by not including a government official in the call.

That came after Prof Jay told the committee that she would welcome the parliamentary record being amended to clarify her comments on inquiries into grooming gangs.

The row centres on comments made by Constance in September, when she opposed a Conservative amendment to a victims bill calling for the government to consider an inquiry into grooming gangs.

Arguing against the amendment, the justice secretary cited Prof Jay, who she said “did not support further inquiries” into child sexual abuse and exploitation.

Yet emails subsequently published by the government showed Prof Jay wanted it to be clarified that she made such a statement “in the context of the England and Wales Public Inquiry on Child Sexual Abuse, which I chaired”.

The academic added: “It had nothing to do with [the Conservative] amendment, or the position in Scotland, as could be interpreted from your statement.”

The government issued a clarification in meeting notes last month but not in the Holyrood chamber, meaning that the parliamentary record – which includes a transcript of comments made in the chamber – is unchanged.

Constance has described her comments about the academic as “accurate” – but opponents claim she is in breach of the ministerial code for failing to correct the record.

The justice secretary survived a vote of no confidence at Holyrood on Tuesday after the Greens sided with SNP MSPs to reject the motion.

Appearing in front of Holyrood’s education committee, Constance sought to explain why she had not corrected the parliamentary record after the academic has asked for her remarks to be clarified.

The justice secretary said she had been making “a general debating point” and it was not clear to her how to correct the record, though she acknowledged that she could have expressed herself differently.

She told MSPs that she would now consider ways to correct the record.

Reiterating her apology, Constance said: “It was never my intention to have Professor Jay be the subject of so much intrusion and attention and I very much regret that.”

She added that she hoped attention could return to victims and survivors of child sexual abuse.

The minister said she made a “professional apology” in a “personal call” to Prof Jay.

She told the committee that there was no government official on the call but that she wrote up a note of it afterwards.

When committee convener and Conservative MSP Douglas Ross suggested this could be a breach of the ministerial code, she said she did not believe that it warranted an investigation.

The evidence session came after the mother of a grooming gangs survivor, known as Taylor, said she no longer had confidence in the justice secretary.

Constance said that she always aimed to be “sensitive, compassionate and take on board the views of all victims”.

She added: “I am very sorry that Taylor and her mum feel the way they do and it’s not for me to in any way deny or reinterpret their views on me or on any other matter.”

The Scottish government announced earlier this month that there is to be a national review of the evidence on the operation of grooming gangs in Scotland.

It will be carried out by independent inspectorates, and overseen by an expert panel led by Prof Jay.

The expert panel will advise ministers on the outcome of the review, which will inform a future decision on whether or not there should be a judge-led public inquiry.

Prof Jay told the committee that she had never sought an apology but wanted there to be an “accurate record” of her quote cited in parliament.

The grooming gangs expert said did not want to escalate the matter any further or to create an “adversarial” situation with Constance.

She told MSPs that she was “surprised” her letter to the minister raising concerns about her comments in parliament had not been immediately published, and said she would welcome the parliamentary record being clarified.

Prof Jay also said that the review of grooming gangs set up by the Scottish government was an “unusual” arrangement.

The academic added that that she found out on Tuesday that the group overseeing the review had still to be given instructions by ministers.

Later on Wednesday, Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth will make a statement setting out further steps the government is taking on tackling child abuse.