POLICE Scotland have received a report about alleged inappropriate conduct by a senior aide to an SNP Cabinet Secretary.
Norman Will, who is the parliamentary “head of office” for MSP Fergus Ewing, is the subject of a report to the single force. Ewing has also given the police a statement in respect of any investigation they may carry out.
A police spokesperson said: “Police Scotland can confirm a report about inappropriate conduct has been received. The reporting and tackling of sexual harassment is a priority and all reports will be thoroughly investigated.
“Our Public Protection Unit has dedicated investigative teams who provide specialist support to victims and target offenders to bring them to justice.”
In the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, lawyer Aamer Anwar told this newspaper in October there was a “catalogue” of sexual harassment at the Scottish Parliament.
MSP Mark McDonald quit as the Minister for Childcare and Early Years in November after saying that some of his behaviour had been “considered to be inappropriate”. He is currently suspended.
It has now emerged that police have received a report about the alleged conduct of Will, who is a long-standing constituency aide to the Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy and Connectivity. It is understood Will has been suspended from Ewing’s employment since December and is no longer an SNP member.
However, he is still listed in the “contact” section on Ewing’s constituency website along with a picture of the aide. Social media site Linkedin states that Will has worked for Ewing since 1999 – the first year of devolution. He was also his election agent at the 2016 Holyrood poll. He is a high-profile supporter of independence and was also Yes Scotland’s “referendum agent” in the Highlands in 2014. Will has taken a strong interest in the politics of Catalonia on Twitter, but he has not tweeted since November 21.
This newspaper also understands the Parliament has launched its own probe into claims about Will.
An SNP spokesperson said: “A staff member is suspended pending the outcome of an investigation. Mr Ewing is following advice from the Scottish Parliament, and awaits the outcome of the investigation.”
A spokesperson said: “The Parliament takes a zero tolerance approach to harassment in the workplace and any complaints made to us will be listened to and investigated. To ensure that those coming forward can have full confidence in our procedures we will not confirm or comment upon any allegations made.”
A Scottish Conservative spokesman said: “These are very serious allegations, and they need to be fully investigated. In the meantime it seems appropriate that the member of staff involved is placed on leave.” Holyrood responded to Anwar’s claims last year by setting up a dedicated hotline for individuals to report cases of sexual harassment.
Will did not return the Sunday Herald’s phone call.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here