Angela Constance summoned to give evidence at committee after no confidence motion

Angela Constance and child abuse expert Prof Alexis Jay have been summoned to give evidence at the Scottish education committee next Wednesday.

It comes as the justice secretary has been accused of “misrepresenting” the views of Prof Jay while rejecting calls for an inquiry into grooming gangs in September.

Two separate motions of “no confidence” were already lodged against Constance on Thursday over the same row.

The SNP have subsequently accused education committee convener Douglas Ross of “abusing his position for his own political motives” after calling Constance and Prof Jay to give evidence.

“Mr Ross failed to properly consult and get agreement from his fellow Committee members ahead of inviting the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs and Professor Alexis Jay to give evidence to the Committee next week,” five SNP members of the education committee said.

“No member of the Committee disagreed in principle to inviting the Cabinet Secretary and Professor to appear, but the majority of the Committee were in agreement that they should discuss their potential appearances as a group next week ahead of any invitations being issued.

“Despite not having the support of the majority of Committee members, Mr Ross went ahead and issued invites in a move blatantly motivated by his own political goals.”

Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay said it was “very welcome that Professor Jay has kindly agreed to give up her time to provide evidence”.

The Scottish Government is facing calls to sack Constance amid claims she “brazenly misrepresented” Professor Alexis Jay, who led the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham in 2014, on the issue of grooming gangs in Scotland.

When Constance rejected calls for an inquiry into grooming gangs in September, she told MSPs Prof Jay agreed with her that such a probe was not needed.

Emails made public by the Scottish Government on Wednesday revealed Prof Jay later contacted the justice secretary to say she would “appreciate” her position “being clarified”.

Deputy first minister Kate Forbes told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme on Friday that she believed that Prof Jay was “content” with the process of comments made by Constance being clarified.

Forbes also called the justice secretary “credible and competent” and said she “absolutely” has confidence in Constance.

At First Minister’s Questions on Thursday, John Swinney also continued to back up Constance’s position.

Swinney said he had not “lost confidence” in his justice secretary, and he repeated that her comments in September were a “reflection of the general comment that has been made about the issues at the time”.

Previously, the First Minister said he believed Constance had been “honest”.

However, the Scottish Conservatives believe the justice secretary is guilty of a clear breach of the ministerial code and that her position is “untenable”.

On Friday, Findlay wrote to the independent advisers to the ministerial code, requesting that they launch an investigation into Constance’s conduct.