New top civil servant to appear before Holyrood committee

Scotland’s new top civil servant will appear before a Holyrood committee for the first time on Tuesday, after his predecessor was deemed unable to.

Permanent Secretary John-Paul Marks will give evidence to the Public Finance and Administration Committee on his “aims and vision” for the role, which he took up at the turn of the year.

Mr Marks was preceded in the role by Leslie Evans, who drew criticism during the inquiry into the botched handling of the investigation into harassment complaints against former first minister Alex Salmond.

Earlier this year, committee convener Kenneth Gibson expressed his anger after Mr Marks’ office answered a letter inviting Ms Evans to appear before the committee to share her “reflections and insights of your time as permanent secretary”.

The response said: “As you will be aware, Ms Evans left the role of permanent secretary to the Scottish Government on December 31 2021 and is now on a period of leave until she retires from the UK Civil Service on March 31 2022.

“On that basis, Ms Evans is effectively no longer a post-holder within the Scottish Government and is not able to speak on behalf of or represent the views of Scottish ministers.”

Replying to the letter, the convener said: “(We are) extremely disappointed at the discourtesy shown to the Parliament by your failure to engage directly with the committee at any stage regarding our invitation, despite our best efforts.

“When we finally received a response, it was not from you, but from the Office of the Permanent Secretary, stating that, as you are now on a period of leave, you are not able to speak on behalf, or represent the views, of Scottish Ministers. At no point have we asked you to do so.”

Mr Marks is expected to be asked about financial transparency in the Scottish Government, as well as the effective refusal of Ms Evans to appear.