Current status: Answered by Angela Constance on 5 January 2026
To ask the Scottish Government whether any civil servant or special adviser provided advice to the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs recommending that she correct or clarify the parliamentary record following the letter sent to her by Professor Alexis Jay on 26 September 2025.
As already noted in my 11 December response to the member’s previous question (S6W-42117), following Professor Alexis Jay’s letter of 26 September, Scottish Government officials contacted Professor Alexis Jay about this matter. As Professor Jay’s request was for clarification of the quote by providing additional context, it was agreed that it would be minuted at the Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Strategic Group’s meeting on 8 October that the quote was correct, but was from January and not made specifically in relation to the amendment or the Victims Bill.
I considered these steps satisfactory when advised on 7 October by Scottish Government officials, noting that Professor Jay was content with this approach as it put her position on the public record via publication of the meeting minutes on the Scottish Government’s website.
I subsequently wrote to the editor of the Official Report on 17 December with a request to update the parliamentary record to clarify the context of Professor Jay’s quote. I was advised that the proposed change could not be made under the Official Report’s remit or the members’ correction procedure.
To ensure that the correction I sought was made widely known, I made two Points of Order, and wrote a letter to the Presiding Officer, which was copied to business managers and members who are not represented in the Parliamentary Bureau. I also placed a copy of this letter in SPICe.
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