This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Former Lord Advocate to lead Holyrood inquiry
12/06/2003
Lord Fraser of Carmyllie, a former Lord Advocate, has
been appointed to lead the investigation into the cost of
the new Holyrood Parliament building.
In addition, the Auditor General, Robert Black, will
examine issues of financial probity.
A detailed remit, covering 'the whole of the lifespan of
the project', is to be agreed by the end of the month.
First Minister Jack McConnell has written to the
Parliament's Presiding Officer, George Reid, saying the
inquiry must be independent of both the Executive and the
Parliament.
In his letter, Mr McConnell said:
"I envisage two initial strands to the investigation. I
have asked Lord Fraser of Carmyllie to look at the decision
making prior to and since responsibility for the project
was handed from the Scottish Office to the Parliamentary
authorities in 1999 and he has accepted my invitation to
take part. You and I also agreed that you would invite the
Auditor General to examine issues of financial probity.
"I remain convinced that the investigation should be
initiated as soon as possible and that it would not be in
the public interests to await completion of the building
project. However I am mindful of the need to ensure that
the investigation is conducted in such a way that it does
not delay the ongoing construction still further.
"A detailed remit for the investigation should be agreed
between ourselves, Lord Fraser, and the Auditor General
before the end of June. However it should, at a minimum,
include a review of the decision making both prior to and
subsequent to the hand-over of the project to the SPCB,
including the selection of the site and design.
"It should also consider how resources have been used
and managed and the overall conduct of procurement. It may
be that the investigation will require to draw on
additional independent expertise and this is a matter that
we will also wish to consider with Lord Fraser and the
Auditor General.
"The purpose of the investigation should be to produce a
clear public record of events and a set of recommendations
for future large-scale public construction projects. I
envisage that the report of the investigation would be
submitted to the appropriate Parliament Committee to allow
further additional scrutiny at that stage.
"People in Scotland rightly expect answers to all of
their questions about the way in which the cost to the
public purse has escalated, and the decisions and actions
which have contributed towards the position in which we now
find ourselves.
"Nothing less than an independent investigation, with
full access to the facts will suffice. I hope that we can
move further on this very quickly."
Biog of
the Rt Hon The Lord Fraser of Carmyllie QC
Peter Fraser, educated at Loretto School, Musselburgh
and graduated BA (Hons) and LLM (Hons), Gonville &
Caius College, Cambridge, before going to Edinburgh
University. He was called to the Scottish Bar in 1969 and
in 1972 he lectured part-time in constitutional law at
Heriot-Watt University for two years. In 1979 he was
appointed Standing Junior Counsel for the Foreign and
Commonwealth Office and became a Queen's Counsel in
1982.
Fraser, born in 1945, was elected as a Conservative MP
for Angus in 1979, where he remained in the House of
Commons until June 1987. He was Parliamentary Private
Secretary to George Younger, Secretary of State for
Scotland. In 1982 he was appointed Solicitor-General for
Scotland by Margaret Thatcher and became Lord Advocate in
1989, when he was made a life peer and a member of the
Privy Council. During his time as Lord Advocate, he had
ultimate responsibility for the Pan Am 103 Lockerbie
investigation. He has appeared for the United Kingdom in
both the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg and the
Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
From 1992 to 1995 he was Minister of State at the
Scottish Office covering Home Affairs and Health. He was
then Minister of State at the Department of Trade and
Industry with a responsibility for export promotion and
overseas investment with particular emphasis on the oil and
gas industry. In 1996 he became Minister for Energy.