John Swinney defends justice secretary Angela Constance over grooming gang review

The First Minister has defended the Scottish justice secretary over a grooming gang review.

John Swinney said he had not “lost confidence” in Angela Constance after the Scottish Conservatives called for him to open a Ministerial Code investigation into her conduct for “misleading parliament over grooming gangs”.

It comes less than 24 hours after education secretary Jenny Gilruth announced a review into how public bodies have responded to grooming gang complaints in Scotland.

Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay raised the subject during First Minister’s Questions on Thursday, highlighting that the justice secretary had not made the announcement.

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Scottish Government orders review into handling of grooming gang complaints

The review will be led by an independent expert and will inform any future decisions on whether a judge-led inquiry is necessary.

“Yesterday’s announcement of a grooming gangs review was announced not by the justice secretary but by the education secretary,” Findlay said.

“It looks like the responsibility for this inquiry and the decision makings on its findings will not be Angela Constance.

“Has John Swinney also realised that [Constance] cannot possibly oversee this review and does that not show that he’s also lost confidence in his justice secretary?”

The First Minister said that is “not the case” and explained that Gilruth led the announcement was because the review concerns child protection issues.

Findlay also accused the justice secretary of “misrepresenting” Prof Alexis Jay’s views and of “misleading the Scottish Parliament and the public”.

During a Scottish Parliament debate in September, Constance told MSPs Prof Jay, who chaired the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in England and Wales and has ongoing work on Scotland’s national child sexual abuse and exploitation strategic group, “shares my view and has put on the record and stated to the media that she does not support further inquiries into child sexual abuse and exploitation, given the significant time and resource already spent in the review that she led, the Casey audit and other reviews”.

Minutes from the Scottish Government’s national child sexual abuse and exploitation strategic group meeting in October, of which Prof Jay is a member, stated: “During the debate on the Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill in Parliament on September 16, the cabinet secretary for justice quoted the views of Professor Alexis Jay on calls for further inquiries into child sexual abuse.

“Co-chair clarified that Professor Jay shared these views in January of this year in the context of her work on the independent inquiry in England and Wales and was not related to the debate on the Victims Bill or the position in Scotland.”

Swinney said he believed Constance had been “honest”, and he said her comments were a “reflection of the general comment that has been made about the issues at the time”.

Findlay insisted that Constance’s “misleading” of Parliament “must be investigated by the independent advisers to the Ministerial Code”.

Swinney said he was “satisfied with the way in which these matters have been conducted”.

The First Minister said: “What I am also satisfied by is the steps that the government set out yesterday to Parliament, which is that there will be an independent national review of the response to group-based child sexual abuse and exploitation in Scotland, led by the care inspector, His Majesty’s Inspector of Education, His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary and Healthcare Improvement Scotland.

“I welcome the fact that Professor Alexis Jay has been appointed the independent chair for the National Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Strategic Group. And all of that work will be joined together, assessed independently, and further advice will come to ministers, and Parliament will be updated.”