A CRISIS in morale in a key Scottish Government department is undermining the ability of solicitors to challenge ministers over policies such as the Named Person Scheme, it has been claimed.
An internal civil service survey covering lawyers in the government’s Directorate for Legal Services found only 47 per cent of staff had confidence in the director Murray Sinclair, who has been at the helm for 11 years.
This is significantly lower than the average confidence rating (57 per cent) for directors in the Civil Service People Survey, which was carried out in October 2017.
But the survey’s findings were catastrophic among staff covering children, education, health and social care. Of the 17 solicitors in this department, only one said they had confidence in the decisions made by Mr Sinclair, and only one agreed with the statement: “it is safe to challenge the way things are done in the Scottish Government”. Asked if they felt they could speak up when there was a serious policy or delivery risk, 42 per cent of staff did not agree.
Overall, 34 per cent of civil servants responding said they did not think change was managed well in the Scottish Government – but results were worse again in the legal department responsible for advising ministers in areas such as named persons, elderly care and health, where 76 per cent said change was not well-managed.
Compared with nearly two thirds of civil servants (64 per cent) who say they would recommend the Scottish Government as “a great place to work” barely a third (35 per cent) in the department agreed.
A Scottish Government legal directorate insider said: “There is a sense that if you challenge things you will be moved on. The expectation seems to be that the civil service will ‘deliver’ for ministers, rather than serve the public. There is a lot of unhappiness.”
Another source added: “These results really should not be so low. Ministers have published a very ambitious Programme for Government, which they are entitled to do. But there is so much coming down the line, which will involve legislative work and advice, and that is not even considering anything getting done in relation to Brexit.”
The Government’s human resources team is now understood to be trying to get to the bottom of the problems in the department, and vacancies have been filled with temporary staff.
However critics of the named person policy said it was worrying that legal advisors lacked confidence their advice would be listened to.
The named person policy has faced ongoing legal challenges, culminating in a supreme court ruling against it in July 2016. Opponents argue new legislation designed to fix the policy is also legally flawed.
Simon Calvert of No To Named Person, said: “If in-house legal advice that does not fit political objectives gets ignoredm this might explain why the Named Person scheme has been such a catastrophe.
“Anyone who’s ever disagreed with the Government about Named Persons has been ignored. It sounds like this might be happening internally as well,”
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