Scotland’s justice minister knew the police watchdog’s interim chief executive did not intend to apply for her role on a permanent basis months ago.
However, Kenny MacAskill has claimed he was only told about Andrea Quinn’s decision to actively resign from Scottish Police Authority on Wednesday a full 24 hours after officials at the body say they gave notice to Scottish Government civil servants.
An SPA spokesman said the Scottish Government was told of Ms Quinn’s decision not to apply for the permanent position in the spring and officials were made aware of her resignation on Tuesday.
He said: “Clearly they were aware of that position (Ms Quinn’s decision not to apply for the permanent job) before this week.”
Shockwaves reverberated around Holyrood following the news Ms Quinn, interim finance director Eamon Hegarty and interim strategy planning and performance director John Fox-Davies would not continue in their roles beyond the summer, as revealed by The Courier.
Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie raised the issue with Alex Salmond at First Minister’s Questions.
Last night he said: “It’s hard to believe that no one in the Scottish Government knew that the chief executive of the SPA was resigning early.
“This is a failure to protect the public interest. The chaos around the SPA mustn’t continue a day longer.”