Scotland’s justice secretary has been accused of “disrespect” towards police staff threatened with redundancy after he cancelled an appearance at a trade union event in Perth at the last minute.
Kenny MacAskill was due to take part in a discussion on the future of the service as part of the Unison Scottish Police Seminar at the Queens Hotel on Monday. However, organisers were told on Friday night that he would no longer be attending the event which featured representatives from all eight Scottish forces due to the “political” nature of the planned discussion.
Central Scotland MSP Christina McKelvie, a Unison member with a background in social work, attended on the SNP’s behalf. Organiser Raymond Brown said delegates were “extremely disappointed” the justice secretary was not present to address concerns about the impact of budget cuts.
The seminar, which continues today, comes at a time of unprecedented upheaval for civilian police staff, with claims the back-room functions they carry out are being sacrificed to meet a political agenda of keeping police officer numbers high.
“We are extremely disappointed that, at the last minute, the justice secretary said he would not be attending the conference,” said Mr Brown, chairman of the Unison Scotland police and justice committee. “His replacement has no justice background and the seminar delegates found it extremely disappointing that certain questions were not able to be answered sufficiently.”
Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives sent their Holyrood justice spokesmen. Green co-convener Patrick Harvie was also there. The politicians were questioned on issues including plans for a single police force, changes to terms and conditions of employment and the possible privatisation of functions such as custody cells.
Labour’s justice spokesman Richard Baker said Mr MacAskill’s failure to attend was “simply not good enough,” adding, “All the other parties sent their senior justice spokesperson to the event and for Mr MacAskill to cancel at the last minute shows complete disrespect to Unison members who are worried about losing their jobs.
“While I am sure Christina McKelvie’s presence was welcomed by the delegates, she has no background in justice and does not even sit on the Scottish Parliament’s justice committee. There is simply no reason why the justice secretary could not attend when Unison members are facing redundancy and we did in fact hear from one woman who has been told her post has been deleted.”
A Scottish Government spokesman insisted it was “more appropriate” that Ms McKelvie attended.
“Mr MacAskill was originally invited to this conference as the cabinet secretary for justice,” he said. “However, in the run-up to the event it became clear that the conference was to be a political hustings and, as such, a member of the SNP was sent in his place as a more appropriate attendee for such an event.”
On Monday the Tayside Police joint board heard staff numbers will be reduced by 55 from the end of April through voluntary redundancy and early retirement, as part of a £4.3 million saving.