Ewing berates Swinney over quango “exclusion” of islanders

Mr Ewing was responding to the revelation that a Yorkshire railway consultant appointed to CMAL, the ferry procurement quango, has resigned after less than a year.

It was a Freedom of Information request from Mr Ewing, while still an MSP, which revealed that four islanders – two of whom were interviewed – were unsuccessful at the time Mike Tarry was appointed.

In his letter to Mr Swinney, the former SNP Minister urges him to “fill the two vacancies on the CMAL board with islanders who have the knowledge and lived experience of living and working in the Hebrides and of ferries”.

Mr Ewing points out that weighting of criteria is sometimes applied to other appointments “to give added importance to local knowledge and lived experience in the public appointment process. So the fact that the (Ethical Standards) Commissioner is independent in no way whatsoever prevents you from taking the action I set out in this letter and should have been taken long, long ago”. Mr Ewing continues: “Under the Code of Practice, definition of ‘merit’ explicitly includes traits beyond corporate or professional qualifications. It explicitly values perspectives of geographical location and lived experience.

“How the practice works is that the Scottish Government utilises a skills framework where selection panels can officially designate certain competences as ‘Priority Criteria’ (which) are explicitly weighted above ‘Essential Criteria’.”

Mr Ewing states: “I mention these factors so that I, with respect, do not receive a reply stating that these matters are for the Commissioner. Plainly they are not; they are for the Government.”

He draws Mr Swinney’s attention to “recent coverage in the Stornoway Gazette” which recalled how Mr Tarry was appointed in preference to islanders, though this was “revealed to the public only through an FoI application made by myself and not by voluntary choice of the Scottish Government”.

At the time, the Scottish Government said knowledge of ferries “or experience of having lived and/or worked in any part of the Scottish Islands” was not required for the CMAL board.

The panel which recommended Tarry’s appointment was chaired by Morag McNeill the Edinburgh lawyer who chairs CMAL and was instrumental in removing the only islander then on the board, Murdo Maclennan.

Mr Ewing also drew the First Minister’s attention to the Gazette’s report that one of the islanders interviewed described the experience as ‘surreal’ with questioning dominated by “diversity” issues with no reference to ferries or islands. He urges the First Minister to show “humility” by “expressly acknowledging that the process which produced Mr Tarry was defective and apologising to applicants who were rejected”.

Mr Ewing tells the First Minister: “I am sharing this letter with the Stornoway Gazette so that you can, if so advised, provide a response to that vital local newspaper serving the islands so well”.