Nicola Sturgeon said a review into a Government complaints system should include the conduct of former Ministers.
The First Minister’s view was reflected in a new policy which underpinned her government’s botched probe into Alex Salmond.
Her view is contained in a batch of over 150 documents published on the Government website.
They also show that one of the females who complained about Salmond was shown a draft of the new complaints procedure before she formally alleged wrongdoing.
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.
A committee of MSPs was established to examine a debacle which cost over £500,000 of public money.
Under FOI, the Scottish Government has published a raft of information earmarked for the committee.
Much of the material relates to how a new procedure that anchored the Salmond probe came into being.
A summary document showed how, in October 2017, Sturgeon informed her cabinet that she had asked her Permanent Secretary to carry out a review into how concerns are investigated.
Her action was in the context of the Harvey Weinstein scandal and the ‘Me Too’ movement.
Officials then identified there was no option available for considering potential sexual harassment complaints about former Ministers.
The summary document noted: “The Permanent Secretary kept the First Minister briefed on the review of Scottish Government policies.
“In a letter to the Permanent Secretary of 22 November 2017 the First Minister acknowledged this and observed that in many instances the complaints being made about misconduct and sexual harassment in public life were concerned with events that had taken place some time before.
“On that basis, the First Minister indicated that the review being taken forward by the Permanent Secretary should ensure arrangements were in place to address concerns raised by Scottish Government staff about the conduct of both current and former Ministers.”
The summary noted that the internal review had “already anticipated the need to consider the handling of historical complaints”.
This work culminated in a new procedure on the “handling of harassment complaints” involving past and present Ministers.
In the following year, Salmond was investigated after complaints were made about him.
Separately, the batch of documents also mentioned general messages to Government staff in 2017 on how they could raise issues: “This led to some communication with members of staff, including with “Ms A”, who would later lodge a formal complaint against the Former First Minister, Alex Salmond.
“In this communication Ms A was sent a draft of the procedure for information and she replied without offering comments on the draft.”
The Holyrood committee is expected to take oral evidence from next month.
