Cabinet Secretary Simon Case confirmed he was looking into the Scottish government’s spending on independence.
Speaking to the House of Lords Constitution Committee on Tuesday, Simon Case said that he and his colleagues were “looking at some of these specifics” around taxpayers’ money being spent on Scotland’s independence strategy.
The question about funding for the Scottish minister for independence Jamie Hepburn and his team of 20 civil servants, whose work focuses on Scotland’s constitutional future and independence, came from Lord George Foulkes.
A member of the Scottish Labour Party, Mr. Foulkes suggested that it would be worrying and unusual if civil servants paid for by the taxpayer were “effectively supporting ministers who want to break up the United Kingdom.”
“I agree with you it would be unusual and a bit worrying which is why we are looking at the specifics of cases that you and other members raise regularly in correspondence,” responded Mr. Case.
He confirmed that ministers were considering whether civil servants needed clarification on the definition of “appropriate spending,” which would be in the form of guidance.
Questioned about the timing of the decision to have further guidance for Scotland’s civil servants, Mr. Case confirmed there were “specific instances” that gave him the “reason to look” at how money was used.
Areas of public spending managed by the Scottish government are called “devolved,” which includes policing, health, and education. Defence, pensions, and international relations are “reserved” areas of public spending that are managed by the UK government.
Mr. Foulkes argued that civil servants should not be spending their time and public funds on reserved areas, such as the constitution.
“Just to take a stupid example, if they were doing defence issues, it would be clearly crazy but surely the constitution is an equally important area,” he told Mr. Case.
Mr. Case agreed and stressed the importance of impartiality when it comes to the work of the civil service.
“To be clear, I believe that they have been looking at these edge cases diligently. But as I say, I want to go back round them all with colleagues in Scotland and with ministers to make sure we are doing absolutely what we should to protect and preserve that impartiality,” the cabinet secretary said.
Partisan Political Agenda
The Scottish Nationalist Party argued against the UK government telling Scotland it can’t “promote the benefits of independence.”The party’s leader at Westminster, Stephen Flynn, said that it would backfire in Scotland and only further boost the support for independence.
“This reflects a partisan political agenda, and Simon Case admitted that he is working with Tory ministers on potentially preventing the Scottish Government from fulfilling its democratic mandate to explain the case for independence to the people of Scotland,” Mr. Flynn said.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said that the civil service’s role was to support the elected government in Scotland and this government’s mandate was to provide the people of Scotland with information about their future.
Earlier in May, Mr. Hepburn said that the question of independence “is the golden thread that runs through the First Minister’s core missions in government.”
“Work is well underway to produce new materials for our activists so that we can take the positive case for independence to the doorsteps the length and breadth of Scotland,” Mr. Hepburn confirmed.
The current Scottish government has been formed end of March, following the resignation of former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and the nomination of Humza Yousaf in her place.
