Minister slammed over slopping out appeal

Monday, 7 June 2004 12:00 AM

Opposition parties have demanded an explanation from Scottish Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson after it emerged that the Executive has missed a legal appeal deadline.

The Executive was due to appeal against a compensation award to a prisoner who had been required to slop out.

In April, Lord Bonomy awarded £2450 to Robert Napier, ruling that slopping out was a breach of his human rights.

At the time the Executive said it had legal grounds to appeal.

However, it has since emerged that no appeal has been filed in the requisite 21 days and lawyers for the Executive are currently in court attempting to get the appeal deadline extended.

The failure to lodge an appeal leaves the Executive open to further compensation claims.

Around 18 per cent of the total Scottish prison population is required to slop out.

Last night, the Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson told the BBC there was an "administrative error" allegedly in offices controlled by Lord Advocate Colin Boyd.

Scottish Conservative justice spokesman, Annabel Goldie said: "The Executive is now to ask for extra time to lodge an appeal, but this begs the question that if the Government, including Scotland's top legal figure in the shape of the Lord Advocate Colin Boyd cannot get it right, then why would the court give them any extra time?

"It is also alleged that it took ten days before Ministers even knew that they had missed the deadline! This takes incompetence to new heights.

"We must not forget that this was an entirely avoidable fiasco. The original ruling makes it plain that the Scottish Government took a deliberate decision not to address [cell conditions], when they both had the resources and the capacity to do so.

"It is clear that deliberate actions by the Executive, most notably the withdrawal of £13m funding in 1999, and the delay in ending slopping out from the Tory target date of 1999 to an unspecified time in the future led directly to the compensation ruling and the possibility of multi million pound claims to follow.

Ms Goldie called for Ms Jamieson to appear before the Scottish Parliament: " She must accept that the buck stops at her desk. She should have made sure that the appeal had been lodged.

"So will she now give us the answers to some crucial questions about the extent of future claims she expects; how much has been spent losing this case and when an end to slopping out will now be completed."

SNP justice spokesperson Nicola Sturgoen went further and called for Ms Jamieson's resignation.

She said: "Cathy Jamieson's job is hanging by a thread. Frankly, she should have resigned over the Reliance contract scandal, but with the Executive's gross incompetence now exposed over the slopping out appeal, she cannot hang on.

"Now, in a stunning display of political cynicism, she is desperately trying to point the finger elsewhere to save her own skin. That won't wash. She announced the Executive's decision to appeal against the slopping out judgment; she is the democratically elected politician accountable to the public, only she can carry the can for this fiasco.

"If she won't do the decent thing and go of her own accord, then Jack McConnell should sack her. With each new fiasco, confidence in the justice system is further damaged. It's time for a fresh start and that means, it's time for a new Minister to take charge."

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