A former Scottish Police Authority (SPA) board member who resigned in a row over transparency has accused the watchdog's chair of misleading MSPs.
Moi Ali stepped down saying she felt she had been punished for objecting to plans to hold SPA meetings in private during a public meeting in December.
SPA chair Andrew Flanagan denied that was the case when he was questioned on the matter by Holyrood's Public Audit Committee.
He told MSPs: "The issue for me is that the board members, if we're going to conduct ourselves in public, they must be clear about their intentions and communicate their positions ahead of time.
"In this case the board member did not and that's what I took issue with, not whether or not there's openness and transparency.
"Her position on the committees being held in private was a long-standing one. Her taking a dissenting position and not communicating that in advance was what the issue was about, not about openness and transparency.
"I took exception to the fact that she dissented publicly without informing me beforehand. That was a surprise. As I said that was not demonstrating openness and transparency on her part and I took issue with that."
Mr Flanagan said while it is not in the standing orders that members must inform the chair of any dissent before a meeting, he believed it is a "professional courtesy".
He said: "I think it's what I would normally expect and what most board members in my experience have always done. So that's what was a surprise.
"The issue is not that it's a punishment but it needed further clarification because she has said on many occasions prior to that that she would support the board's decision on this."
Responding to his comments on Twitter, Ms Ali said the account was "incorrect", adding: "I did tell the chair I would raise concerns in the public board.
"Collective responsibility kicks in after decisions taken, not before. I'm speaking out now following inaccurate accounts by SPA.
"I made a constructive challenge, asked for my dissent to be recorded, then accepted collective responsibility, as per 'on board' guidance."
Ms Ali said she would be writing to the committee "to correct info given by Andrew Flanagan re openness, transparency and my resignation".
She also published on her Twitter account a letter sent from Mr Flanagan to her after the public meeting in which he stated he "did not think it would be fair" for her to continue to participate in SPA committees.
Responding to the letter, committee convener Jenny Marra MSP said it was "heavy handed" and "seriously worrying".
She tweeted: "SPA chair says that recording dissent not consistent with collective responsibility.
"Which would lead to the question, what's the point in meeting in public if chair won't tolerate dissenting opinions being raised?"
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 hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel