The new chairman of Historic Environment Scotland (HES) said allegations of racism were taken “very seriously” despite indicating that staff involved would not face the sack.
It comes after Craig Mearns kept his £120,000-per-year post as operations director at the heritage body despite being reported for referring to Indian people at Edinburgh Castle as “chocolates”. He has also admitted calling French citizens “cheese-eating surrender monkeys”.
Sir Mark Jones, who took up the post of chairman at HES just over a month ago, told a committee of MSPs on Thursday that he was aware of two allegations, one having taken place over a year ago, while the other was “a bit more recent than that”.
He told Holyrood’s culture committee that in one case the “situation was dealt with” and the other was subject to a “live investigation”, and stressed that the HES board and “organisation as a whole” was committed to “zero tolerance of any form of prejudice or discrimination”.
Meanwhile, Jones confirmed yesterday that allegations of corruption are also being investigated at HES after Scottish government officials received a whistleblowing report in June, claiming “financial/procurement improprieties” involving a director at the heritage body.
Jones was quizzed by MSPs including the former Green co-leader Patrick Harvie, who asked if anyone found to have “expressed racist views or attitudes would no longer have a role in the organisation”.
Jones replied that this was not his “understanding” of zero tolerance, adding that it meant that racism will be “dealt with appropriately” by the organisation.
Edinburgh Castle was the venue where several allegations of inappropriate behaviour by some members of Historic Environment Scotland have been reported
ALAMY
“There are proper procedures to be gone through, and those must be observed,” Jones said, adding he was “hopeful” most would be concluded “in the next month or two”.
He appeared before the Holyrood committee after a series of controversies to hit HES, with the chief executive Katerina Brown suspended this month after taking a leave of absence, while another senior figure was disciplined for allegedly twerking in front of the actor Martin Compston at an HES event. Jones said yesterday that Brown is “at work now” and is “not suspended”.
The Times also reported this week that the former chief executive Hugh Hall, who resigned from HES last month, has been reported to Scotland’s Ethical Standards Commissioner.
• Former chair of heritage quango reported to ethics watchdog
The auditor-general for Scotland Stephen Boyle said yesterday that he intends to publish a Section 22 report — a procedure which follows concerns arising from audits of public bodies — into HES. Boyle told MSPs his concerns included that “aspects of wider leadership instability” at HES was “impacting on its culture and operation”.
Jones told MSPs it is “very possible” that a “broader inquiry into the culture” was required at HES, which looks after 300 of Scotland’s most important historic and environmental heritage sites.
“HES has many dedicated and experienced staff who are doing a great job”, he said, adding, “That is not to deny we have problems. Clearly we do and they need to be tackled.”
• Heritage official ‘twerked’ at Line of Duty star Martin Compston
The HES board member Andrew Davis also told MSPs he was “not aware” of any meetings between the board and the culture secretary Angus Robertson in the past four years, a situation that the Conservative MSP Stephen Kerr said “beggars belief”.
Kerr said afterwards: “It’s now blindingly obvious that this organisation is in meltdown and has a toxic culture. HES receives more than £70 million in taxpayers’ money every year and performs a central role in preserving our national heritage.
“As culture secretary, Angus Robertson should have been supervising HES, but has clearly been asleep at the wheel during this period of disgraceful mismanagement and only taken an interest in the organisation after these scandals emerged.”
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