Holyrood secrets claim is rejected

SCOTTISH Parliament bosses have admitted they were wrong to claim commercial confidentiality meant crucial information on the Holyrood building project had to be kept secret.

Now details of the contracts for the main companies involved in the controversial 375 million parliament are set to be revealed for the first time.

And officials face the prospect of re-answering a host of parliamentary questions previously dismissed.

Leading Holyrood critic Margo MacDonald said the U-turn on disclosure vindicated her previous claims that parliament had been misled.

Presiding officer George Reid said that after taking over the post from Sir David Steel, he had ordered a review of the confidentiality obligations over Holyrood.

According to specialist legal advice, the parliamentary authorities had been wrong to assume key contracts were covered by confidentiality.

And Mr Reid said the parliament’s cross-party corporate body had agreed to make public priced copies of contracts with construction managers Bovis, architects EMBT/RMJM, engineers Ove Arup and cost consultants Davis Langdon Everest.

But details of failed tenders will not be published, nor will documents relating to Flour City, the company that collapsed while working on the cladding contract for the parliament.

Mr Reid said the legal advice was that the parliament owed tenderers an obligation of commercial confidentiality under the tender documentation.

News of the U-turn on confidentiality was broken to MSPs in a letter sent by Mr Reid to the parliament’s finance committee convener, Labour MSP Des McNulty.

Mr Reid said: "I am determined that the parliament will work towards the principles of openness, transparency and accountability.

"This development will mean that previously unpublished information will now be published and any inaccuracies corrected."

Ms MacDonald, independent MSP for the Lothians, said: "This letter is saying that parliament was misled as to the content and volume of information which could be in the public domain.

"When I argued that parliament was being misled, I had my character attacked. It’s now up to Lord Fraser’s inquiry to discover who it was that was doing the misleading - the corporate body or those advising them."

She said the corporate body had repeatedly cited "commercial confidentiality" for withholding information that might have explained why the new parliament jumped from the construction costs of 50m, quoted by Donald Dewar as Scottish Secretary, to the current 375m figure.

"Had the SPCB been less compliant with the advice they were given by the various consultants, contractors and civil servants on the project team, much of the suspected profligacy with public money might have been curbed."

Scottish Tory leader David McLetchie also welcomed the change of heart.

"Anything which lifts the lid on the deals and contracts that have cost the Scottish taxpayer so much has to be welcomed."