EXCLUSIVE: Alex Cole-Hamillton warned “nobody else is allowed to be alone with children or vulnerable adults without a basic check being done first”.
The SNP Government has been criticised for failing to launch a safeguarding review over politicians and their access to vulnerable groups in society.
Maree Todd, the then children’s minister, pledged in June 2020 “a Government-commissioned independent review” would be set-up following calls from Alex Cole-Hamilton.
The leader of the Scottish Lib Dems has now hit out and demanded an apology after it was confirmed by parliamentary authorities that no review had taken place.
Cole-Hamilton lodged amendments which were intended to bring MSPs and councillors within the scope of the Disclosure (Scotland) Bill in 2020.
It would have meant elected members being made to comply with Disclosure Scotland’s Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme – which helps to ensure people who are unsuitable to work with children and protected adults cannot do regulated work with these vulnerable groups.
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The move was voted down by the education committee amid concerns that such a radical step had not been fully consulted on.
Todd then proposed to commission and fund an independent review that “would consider the issue of safeguarding in relation to elected representatives”.
She said at the time: “I am absolutely prepared to work with Parliament to find a solution, but I do not think that the provisions of this Bill are the appropriate way to do this.
“I think it is important to remember that the scheme is specifically for those working with vulnerable groups and there is no pass or fail to disclosure.”
Cole-Hamilton said: “This is a serious and considerable failure on the part of the Scottish Government.
“Nobody else is allowed to be alone with children or vulnerable adults without a basic check being done first, but there is nothing legally to prevent MSPs from doing that. There cannot be one rule for politicians and another for everybody else because history and inquiries have exposed the dangers of self-policing.
“I want experts to tell us how best to safeguard against the threat of people working in politics using their status to manipulate, target and exploit vulnerable people.
“We are now on our third children’s minister since the commitment to commission and fund an independent review was made. How best to implement such a change deserves proper scrutiny, but for successive SNP ministers to simply do nothing is deeply disappointing.
“You can’t promise a review in order to convince MSPs to vote against my proposals being included in the bill, and then claim that there is no need to conduct a review because it wasn’t included in the bill.
“The Scottish Government needs to apologise to Parliament and set out a timeline for this long overdue review to get to work.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said ministers had “carefully considered where responsibility lies for safeguarding in relation to elected representatives”.
They added: “This responsibility lies with the Scottish Parliament who regulate MSPs conduct. The Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee focuses on the Parliament’s procedures rules for MSPs’ behaviour and conduct.
“MPs and MSPs are not in scope of the PVG Scheme because the activities of their roles do not amount to regulated roles under the Disclosure Act schedules.”
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