HOLYROOD'S standards committee has sanctioned Scottish Green MSP Maggie Chapman for failing to declare a financial interest during an evidence session on the Gender Recognition Reform Bill.
Martin Whitfield, the Labour chair of the committee chair said the breach of the code of conduct was a "serious matter."
MSPs on the committee unanimously agreed to exclude Ms Chapman from one meeting of the parliament's Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee.
The punishment followed a complaint by a member of the public that the Green should have mentioned that she had been the Chief Operating Officer of Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre when her committee took evidence on the legislation from Rape Crisis Scotland.
Ms Chapman's register of interests notes that she worked for the organisation until June 2021, quitting after she was elected.
Even though she no longer works for the charity, the rules state that details of the employment should remain in the register until the end of the current Holyrood session.
Mr Whitfield said the committee had concluded that this was therefore a "declarable financial interest."
While Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre and Rape Crisis Scotland are different organisations, they work closely together.
The centre in the capital is part of a network of 17 independence rape crisis organisations that Rape Crisis Scotland works with.
In her question to Sandy Brindley, the Rape Crisis Scotland Chief Executive at the May , Ms Chapman asked specifically about "Rape Crisis Scotland network members."
Mr Whitfield said: "The Committee is of the view that even if Maggie Chapman MSP made an assessment that her declarable interest was not sufficiently related to the Gender Recognition Reform Bill which was the subject of the agenda item at the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee meeting, a declaration should have been made before pursuing a line of questioning that referenced the network of rape crisis centres which includes Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre."
He added: "The Committee believes that for those watching or reading the proceedings of the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee of 31 May 2022, a declaration by Maggie Chapman MSP of her declarable interest would have provided the transparency and openness that the standards regime requires in relation to Members’ interests."
In a statement, Ms Chapman said: "I acknowledge the decision taken by the Committee. I am disappointed that they came to this conclusion.
“I have never sought to hide my previous employment with a rape crisis centre, which ended on 30 June 2021. This is published in my written Register of Interests and I also declared it at the first meeting of the Committee.
“It is also clear that there could be no way in which I, or anyone else, could gain financially or otherwise from my engagement in Committee proceedings.
“I simply, if mistakenly, did not view my former employment, which had ceased months before the Committee meeting, as being of enough significance to make further oral declarations.
“I appreciate the consideration of this matter by members of the SPPA Committee due to my omission to declare my past work supporting rape survivors. I will strive to avoid any such confusion in future.
“While I acknowledge the one meeting sanction imposed, it is in my view unprecedented compared with previous considerations of complaints against other MSPs.
“I apologise to colleagues who have to deal with it and thank them for their courtesy in considering this matter.”
Scottish Conservative shadow equalities spokesperson Rachael Hamilton said: “This represents a serious error of judgement from Maggie Chapman.
“She was surely fully aware that failing to declare her previous employment would represent a conflict of interest in relation to an evidence session on the gender reform bill.
“Breaching the code of conduct as a MSP is an extremely serious matter and I support the action taken by the Standards Committee against her.
“Maggie Chapman should apologise for her oversight and guarantee she will declare any relevant interests in the future, whatever issue is being discussed.”
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