Official Report 486KB pdf
09:30
Good morning, colleagues.
In June last year, we commissioned a review of our dignity at work policies and systems to help to ensure that the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body and members of the Scottish Parliament, as employers, were prepared for the forthcoming changes in employment law arising from the Employment Rights Act 2025. As part of the review, in January, we asked all staff who work for the parliamentary corporate body and for MSPs to take part in a dignity at work survey.
The corporate body considered a report on that work yesterday, and it has now been published. The report contains a summary of experiences that were submitted in confidence and anonymously. The corporate body welcomes the evidence of widespread positive practice across the Parliament, but we will all be shocked and deeply concerned to learn of some reported serious allegations.
The review and publication of the report have brought issues to light that were previously unknown, and we are grateful to everyone who took part in the review. Speaking out is never easy, and our foremost concern is for anyone who is affected by inappropriate conduct. Senior Parliament officials made the Parliament police unit aware of the limited information that we have, and they have sought advice regarding reporting duties and signposting.
The Parliament has taken the steps that it can to support individuals who report concerns, and I encourage anyone who has experienced inappropriate conduct to report it. Officials will support any person who wishes to formally report concerns. There can and must be zero tolerance of inappropriate behaviour.
This is an important piece of work. Now that we have the findings, we must begin work on the recommendations quickly. Yesterday, the parliamentary corporate body gave its full support to implementing the comprehensive package of recommendations.
I want to see the highest standards of behaviour across the Parliament, and I thank the corporate body members and party leaders for their support. I know that we are all united in our ambition to ensure that everyone experiences Parliament as a safe, respectful and welcoming workplace.
09:33
This report is timely, and I am grateful to the many colleagues who contributed their experiences to it, both confidentially and anonymously. It is vital that everyone who comes to work at the Parliament comes to a safe and respectful working environment, and that applies to every single member of staff, no matter their role.
This report was an important one to carry out, and, as the Presiding Officer has said, it highlights that, in the overwhelming majority of cases, staff do feel respected, valued and supported at work. However, if even one person has a bad experience here, that is completely unsatisfactory and there is a duty on all of us to address that.
As First Minister, I make it clear to Parliament that a culture of appropriate behaviour is essential to the functioning of our democracy. The report indicates the importance of leadership, a shared determination to ensure respectful working relationships and a collective commitment to make certain that all staff, regardless of who employs them, experience a workplace where they are able to perform at their best. It is vital that anyone with any concerns is able to raise those concerns and have them acted upon in the appropriate fashion.
I commit my party and my Government to being full participants with Parliament in improving the processes for reporting any behaviour that falls below the high standards to which we must all adhere. I commit myself, as First Minister, to contributing in the correct way to the demonstration of leadership and to ensuring that the appropriate culture is present here, in Parliament, at all times.
09:35
Last night, I read the Parliament’s report on the review conducted about dignity in the workplace. While doing so, I thought back to my time working in newspapers. Workplace cultures were very different to what is typical today, as I am sure many of us can testify. The world of work has changed significantly, and for the better. It is now a given that every employee should feel safe at work and that they should not be subject to bullying, harassment or sexual harassment.
The review begins by saying that there is
“a strong commitment across the Scottish Parliament to maintaining a workplace founded on dignity, courtesy, and respect.”
However, as the Presiding Officer and the First Minister have said, there are causes for concern and grounds for improvement. Respondents said that they had experienced and/or witnessed 84 instances of bullying, harassment or sexual harassment since 2021. The report explains the complexity of Parliament as a workplace, with 129 small employers in the form of MSPs alongside Parliament staff and various outside contractors. That creates, in the words of the report,
“uneven protections and accountability gaps”
and a
“perceived two-tier culture.”
It is clear that things need to change and that change is in the interests of all parties, all MSPs and all colleagues. The report says that Parliament adopted a zero-tolerance approach many years ago but that there is still uncertainty about what that means in practice. With just a few days until the dissolution of Parliament, the next Parliament must take the necessary action to ensure that unacceptable behaviour at Holyrood is no longer tolerated.
09:36
This deeply worrying report must be taken with the utmost seriousness. Its content demands not defensiveness or delay, but decisive action from all of us. There must be zero tolerance for sexual harassment and bullying in the Scottish Parliament. We all have a responsibility to ensure that proper systems are in place to protect staff and to stamp out behaviour that has no place in any workplace, let alone in Scotland’s national Parliament.
I am glad to see that there are many practical solutions and recommendations, including independent investigation and reporting systems, which have long been advocated for by women’s groups and which have already been adopted by the Labour Party. The report makes it clear that confidence, consistency and culture must now be strengthened. Holyrood must be more open, more accountable and more responsive. It must, above all, be a place where people feel safe to do the work that is entrusted to us by the people of Scotland.
However, there is another principle that must guide us all. Support for victims must come first. That is not an issue for one party alone. Painfully, there are lessons for all of us, right across the political spectrum. For our part, we must all continue to work to build a Parliament that defends the rights of all who work here and to create a working environment in which everyone feels safe and can thrive.
My pledge is that my party will support the Parliament in putting its collective shortcomings right. Regardless of party or political belief, we must stand together to ensure that this Parliament is a safe place to work for every single person in it. It is what Scotland and all the people who work in this place deserve.
That is why I respectfully ask that, after the publication of the report and hearing from the chamber on it today, we ensure that the issue is not left by the sidelines when, inevitably, we all get into campaign mode. I also request that the Presiding Officer and all other officials right across the Parliament do their utmost to ensure that whoever the successor as Presiding Officer is makes this an urgent priority for the next Parliament and ensures that we make significant progress at the earliest possible opportunity. That is a responsibility on each and every one of us.
09:39
The allegations, and the volume of them, are shocking and will be hugely concerning for everyone using the parliamentary estate. I thank those who have come forward and shared their experiences to help to improve the culture and conduct in Parliament. In 2018, in response to the #MeToo movement, Parliament undertook work to tackle inappropriate conduct and to improve its culture. The report lays bare not only that have we not completely tackled the problem but that it might actually have got worse. That means that parliamentary and members’ staff might have been put in positions that they never should have been in.
It is absolutely incumbent on all parties to take the issue seriously and to address any and all inappropriate conduct in their groups, and I am pleased to hear the commitments that colleagues have made today. I am also pleased that one recommendation is to give staff a direct escalation line to the Parliament’s human resources team, as I think that that will help to address situations in which there are complaints between parties or in which staff feel that they cannot challenge members’ behaviour.
The public rightly expect the highest standard of behaviour from members, and it is clear that some have fallen far short of that. It is on all of us to tackle the power structures that have prevented people from stepping forward and to foster a culture in which everyone is welcome, safe and supported. My party is committed to doing that.
09:40
I expect, or at least hope, that every member in the chamber will always seek to reflect the better natures of the people who sent us here and who give us our instructions. It is clear that, although there is widespread good practice in the building, we are still falling short of that aspiration. I hope that the people who have come forward anonymously have found redress and support and, most importantly, have been believed.
There are challenges in the report. It is embarrassing, but it is also a call to action. I sincerely hope that, although the report represents one of the last considerations of this session of Parliament, it will also represent one of the first considerations of the session to come. Scottish Liberal Democrats will certainly play our part in ensuring that we act on the recommendations and uphold the principles of fair and safe work, both for our staff and for the people who seek our help when they come to our offices. We are committed to that endeavour.