MSPs looking into the botched probe on harassment allegations against Alex Salmond have raised concerns key information might have been redacted from government documents.
A batch of over 150 documents was put on the Scottish Government’s website last week with some parts blanked out to comply with strict public freedom of information rules.
But the same papers, with the same redactions, had already been sent to the special committee probing the government’s handling of the Salmond allegations.
In a critical letter to the government’s chief civil servant, dated July 17, committee convener Linda Fabiani called for assurances the reports had not been overly censored.
She referred to an exemption for "free and frank exchange of views" which she said might not be covered by public release.
Fabiani wrote: "We believe that it would not be appropriate to withhold information from the parliamentary inquiry on those grounds. We therefore seek reassurance that the Scottish Government did not exclude any information that may be relevant to the committee.
"I also note that since the FOI response was published, it has been removed temporarily from the public domain to enable further redactions. I find this concerning and would reiterate that the committee will only publish the documentation you sent to us after making our own checks on the information previously supplied with reference to its agreed published statement."
In 2018, Sturgeon's government launched an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct against Salmond when he was First Minister. Sturgeon's predecessor challenged the Government in court and a judge ruled the internal probe had been tainted by bias and was unlawful.
In a statement released on Tuesday night, a Scottish Government spokesman admitted there had been an "oversight" with the documents to the committee.
"The names of two civil servants should have been redacted from two separate items of correspondence in line with the committee’s wishes," the spokesman said.
"Due to an oversight this didn’t happen – and when this came to light the documents we posted were taken offline briefly to redact the two names concerned and the documents were then reinstated online.
"We remain committed to working with the committee and we welcome the opportunity the parliamentary inquiry will bring to address issues which have been raised."
