Alex Salmond stands accused of misleading parliament this week by telling MSPs that a funding row had been resolved before civil servants made contact with the organisation involved to confirm the deal.
Alex Salmond stands accused of misleading parliament this week by telling MSPs that a funding row had been resolved before civil servants made contact with the organisation involved to confirm the deal.
A bullish First Minister told parliament on Thursday that a funding threat to the Scottish Inter Faith Council had been resolved, and he slapped down Liberal Democrat leader Tavish Scott for raising concerns over the fact that before Christmas the SIFC had been forced to issue redundancy notices to staff.
But according to the body they only received a telephone call from a civil servant offering to resolve the impasse after the issue was raised at First Minister's Questions, and a final meeting to resolve the issue will not take place until next week.
At around 12.15pm Mr Salmond told parliament: "I am glad to inform Tavish Scott that the Inter Faith Council will not be closed because the matter has been resolved. I hope that he believes that this is an example of effective action by the SNP Government."
But Major Alan Dixon of the Salvation Army, who is convener of the SIFC, confirmed yesterday that he only received a call from a civil servant at around 12.30pm, which would have been just as FMQ's ended. He and SIFC chief executive Pramila Kaur confirmed yesterday they hope next week's meetings will resolve the issues but the details remain unclear. The organisation circulated e-mails mid-morning on Thursday indicating that they still face a crisis.
Mr Scott said last night: "Our most senior Scottish Minister cannot be allowed to mislead the public and the parliament in this way.
"Although I am sure that the First Minister did not deliberately mislead parliament, this is now a very serious situation. The First Minister told the Scottish Parliament that the funding crisis at SIFC had been resolved. We now know this not to be the case. At the time that the First Minister was brushing off my questions about staff redundancies at the council, no satisfactory resolution had been secured. The First Minister needs to make a public apology."
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: "As the First Minister made abundantly clear on Thursday, we are pleased to confirm that the Scottish Government will continue to fund the Scottish Inter Faith Council for 2008/09 and for the following two financial years."
