Ministers considered holding independence referendum on same day as 2011 election, papers reveal
Documents also show confused response to swine flu pandemic and lack of leadership after severe snowstorm
Scottish ministers considered holding a referendum on the same date as the Holyrood election in 2011, newly released papers have revealed.
In 2010, the minority SNP administration led by Alex Salmond published a draft Referendum Bill.
Ministers proposed to spend £9.5 million on a multi-option referendum, which would see Scots asked if they backed increased powers for Holyrood - and then if these powers should be extended to "allow independence to be achieved".
At the time the plans were announced, in February 2010 , Mr Salmond insisted they would give Scots a "vital say on the country's future".
Ministers went on to launch a consultation on their Referendum Bill plans, but opposition from other parties at Holyrood meant the legislation was never formally introduced.
In May 2011 , the SNP won an unprecedented majority in the Scottish Parliament - with this success leading directly to the independence referendum of 2014.
However, newly released cabinet papers from 2010 reveal ministers had considered holding their multi-option referendum on the same say as the 2011 Scottish election.
Papers, released from 15 years ago, indicate the vote could be held in March 2011 or "on the same day as the Scottish Parliament election on May 5 2011".
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The document also reveals there had been "no engagement with the UK government on our proposals" from the Scottish government.
But Scottish government officials at the time had had "regular discussions" with the Electoral Commission "about the detail of holding a referendum", the paper said.
Holding a referendum on the same day as the 2011 Scottish Parliament vote "could lead to potentially significant cost savings as the apparatus for holding a national poll has to be in place for that day anyway", it noted.
Concerns, however, were raised that those responsible for running the 2011 election would be "taken by surprise" if a referendum was proposed for the same date and "their likely initial reaction would be extremely negative, probably to the extent of publicly criticising this approach".
When members of the Scottish cabinet discussed the matter, in January 2010 , they therefore agreed the draft Bill should "not at this stage set out the date for the referendum".
The paper, produced by then parliamentary business minister Bruce Crawford, also noted the Scottish government's proposed referendum would be an advisory vote and would have "no legislative effect".
The document stated the proposed ballot would "in effect, be a consultation with the people of Scotland ".
But it added: "The Scottish government's expectation is that the UK government and Parliament would listen to the views of the people and act on them as they have done in all other referendums held in the UK."
Although the Scottish government did not proceed with holding a multi-option referendum, the Holyrood election in 2011 took place on the same day as the UK Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government held a referendum on a possible switch to proportional representation for Westminster elections.
Voters rejected the option of moving to the alternative vote system.
The newly released papers also revealed meetings between health ministers from across the UK "created significant confusion" in the swine flu pandemic 15 years ago.
The documents also show a sub committee of the Scottish cabinet involved in the response to the pandemic "did not provide an effective forum for collective decision making by ministers".
Instead, the papers state, meetings of the Cabinet Sub Committee Scottish Government Resilience Room (CSC-SGoRR) were "simply an opportunity" for then deputy first minister Nicola Sturgeon to update ministers on developments.
This was "something that she did at the weekly meetings of the cabinet anyway", the papers add.
Ministerial attendance at these meetings was "fairly poor", with the cabinet documents stating this was "no doubt partly a reflection of the fact that it was not, in practice, a key decision-making forum".
They also said "the way in which Four Nations Health Ministers meetings were handled was not helpful - and created significant confusion".
Here, the meeting paper from the CSC-SGoRR notes: "Some papers were issued by the Cabinet Office , some were issued by the Department of Health .
"Different people used different circulation lists and there was no numbering system used for the papers (which was particularly unhelpful as there were papers with similar titles going to nearly every meeting!)."
The papers also show there was an "absence of strategic leadership, oversight and central co-ordination" when Scotland was hit by a snowstorm that left hundreds of drivers stranded 15 years ago.
The papers from the winter of 2010 told how "many" people had been left in a "potentially vulnerable position" as blizzards hit the country on December 6 that year.
With heavy snowfall that day causing widespread disruption, hundreds of drivers were stuck in their vehicles on the M8 motorway between Glasgow and Edinburgh .
Days afterwards, then transport minister Stewart Stevenson resigned, saying he "could have done much more to ensure that members of the public who were caught up in a difficult and frightening set of circumstances were better informed of the situation".
Cabinet papers from December 2010 concluded: "There had been an absence of strategic leadership, oversight and central co-ordination on Sunday December 5 and Monday December 6 ."
The papers said there had been "insufficient early co-ordination" between the police, Transport Scotland's control centre and transport operating companies when the severe weather struck.
These said "the flow of information for decision makers had not been sufficiently rapid", adding the cabinet sub committee in charge of the response "had not been apprised of the true gravity of the situation when it met on the afternoon of Monday December 6 ".
On that date, the papers said the "snowfall had been heavier than forecast and had fallen over the central belt during the rush hour".
This had "severe effects on all forms of transport", it noted, leading to "the closure of major sections of the trunk road network", while local roads in "many areas" became "impassable" because of the wintry conditions.
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