ANDREW Flanagan’s resignation as chairman of the Scottish Police Authority, like his apology for mistreating a board member and reversing his plans to cloak the organisation in secrecy, was the right decision executed far too late to earn either him or the government any credit.
In his letter to Justice Secretary Michael Matheson, Mr Flanagan said media and parliamentary interest had made him a “distraction” and he wished to leave in the best interests of policing. But Mr Flanagan has long ceased to be a mere distraction. He was a squatter who should have been turfed out of his job months ago and a symbol of wider government failure.
Two episodes should have marked Ms Flanagan’s card, both stemming from the governance framework he instituted at the SPA in December. Despite greater openness and transparency being part of his remit, the changes he oversaw meant many SPA committees previously held in public were switched to private sessions, and papers for those still in public only came out the day of the event, thwarting scrutiny.
The new regime was repugnant to many, and a clear backstep step for the SPA. But it was convenient given the bad headlines featuring the organisation, not least over the growing budget deficit at the £1 billion-a-year institution it oversees, Police Scotland.
It is inconceivable such changes could have been made without Mr Matheson’s consent, whether tacit or explicit, and he bears responsibility for the ensuing mess. When board member Moi Ali expressed her misgivings in public, Mr Flanagan complained in writing to her with a heavy hint that she should resign. She did so shortly afterwards.
Mr Flanagan also withheld a letter from the board, intended for its members, from Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary expressing his concern about the changes. The Herald which brought these matters into the public domain, where they were pursued with a forensic zeal by two Holyrood committees.
Too late, Mr Flanagan apologised to Ms Ali. Mr Matheson has yet to apologise, but should. If this was the sole example of such behaviour it would be bad enough.
But the timing of the exit is another black mark. His position was untenable as soon as MSPs said they no longer had confidence in him. Yet the inevitable seems to have been postponed until after the General Election.
Mr Matheson’s instant announcement of a review of support for the SPA and the alacrity with which he accepted Mr Flanagan’s resignation indicates a pantomime engineered for political convenience rather.
There was more evidence of a slippery addiction to secrecy in a Holyrood debate this week on the abuse and neglect of freedom of information by ministers.
Both the debate and Mr Flanagan’s departure point to unhealthy instincts for secrecy and denial. Too often, we see a government doing the right thing only after it has exhausted every other option.
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