THE Holyrood inquiry into the botched misconduct probe into Alex Salmond has revealed how much evidence it expects ministers to hand over.

The cross-party group of MSPs revealed the scale of its ambition in a letter to the Scottish Government’s top official, the permanent secretary Leslie Evans.

It said it expected officials to preserve “all hard copy and electronic documents” which may be relevant, including emails and other electronic messages, such as texts.

It also said ministers must save any electronic data which would usually be deleted as part of its routine housekeeping.

The committee said it also wanted the names, position and contact details of any officials, special advisers “or other persons who may have had any involvement whatsoever, directly or indirectly” with the complaints and actions it was examining.

The MSPs are probing the collapsed government investigation into two complaints against Mr Salmond last year, a process he showed in court last month was invalid.

It is also looking at Nicola Sturgeon meeting her predecessor while he was being investigated.

The MSPs have delayed the bulk of their work to avoid prejudicing separate legal proceedings against Mr Salmond, who strongly denies any criminality.

The government has said it will cooperate fully with the committee’s inquiry.