Committee to see report containing Alex Salmond case legal advice

Image source, Reuters

Image caption, The Scottish government had to pay Alex Salmond more than Β£500,000 in legal expenses

MSPs are to be allowed to read a report containing legal advice given to the Scottish government during its legal battle with Alex Salmond.

The committee investigating the handling of harassment complaints against the former first minister will be given access to the document in a special "reading room" next Tuesday.

Its members will be able to read the report on a confidential basis.

The committee is still pushing for the full legal advice to be published.

Its convener, Linda Fabiani, said the report only covers some of the legal advice which the committee is asking to see.

The MSPs will not be allowed to remove or copy the document, although Ms Fabiani has asked that they be allowed to take notes.

She said: "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 the report, which is dated 29 December 2018, will be published after the unredacted version has been seen by the committee.

Judicial review

MSPs have previously voted to demand that the government hands over all the legal advice it had received.

Ministers have said that legal privilege prevents them from disclosing the documents.

The row centres on legal advice that was given to the Scottish government after Mr Salmond launched judicial review proceedings at the Court of Session over the way harassment complaints against him had been handled.

The government ended up admitting it had acted unlawfully because one of its investigating officers had prior contact with two complainers.

It had to pay Mr Salmond more than Β£500,000 in legal expenses as a result, and a Holyrood committee was set up to examine what had gone wrong.

Earlier this year, Mr Salmond was acquitted of 13 charges of sexual assault following a High Court trial.