Exclusive:Prostitution: Holyrood apologises to campaign group over missing evidence

Nordic Model Now! demanded an apology and a full investigation after claiming oral evidence from a prostitution survivor was not included in the criminal justice committee’s stage one report on the Prostitution (Offences and Support) (Scotland) Bill.

The bill, brought forward by Ash Regan MSP, aimed to introduce what is known as the Nordic model to Scotland. This would have decriminalised the selling of sex while criminalising the buying of sex.

However, the bill fell at stage one by 64 votes to 54 last month.

The campaign group questioned the committee’s neutrality, saying their reporting was biased and based on “incomplete evidence” as follow-up evidence provided by Amanda Quick, a prostitution survivor, was not properly published.

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The director of parliamentary business has now apologised for the “failure” in processing the evidence, but disputed the group’s claims that the committee had been biased.

In its response to Nordic Model Now!, the investigating team said: “The internal process used by the criminal justice clerking team was that supplementary evidence should be processed, circulated to members and published.

“The piece of evidence sent on 13 October was not published. It is not possible to say whether this was shared with members of the committee at the time but it is clear that at least part of the process did not work as it should on this occasion.”

The response said it was not possible to determine this because the emails in question had been deleted by the time the error was spotted.

This part of the complaint was upheld, and the investigators said: “Your complaint has identified a weakness in this system when it comes to tracking incoming evidence and ensuring there are no oversights.”

The investigators added “there was a failure in the process” and the way the complaint was initially handled “did not amount to a suitable resolution for you”.

They added: “I am sorry for the error that occurred in processing the written evidence from Amanda Quick, submitted after she had given oral evidence to the committee.”

However, the response to the complaint said there was “no evidence of any bias” in what happened - Nordic Model Now! claimed that the process was “biased in favour of those who opposed the bill” and that the evidence sessions were “not even-handed”.

The investigating team said: “While it is clear that there was an error in handling the follow-up evidence submitted on behalf of Amanda Quick, I am satisfied with the measures put in place to ensure that the opposing views on the bill were heard and I do not find that the omission in relation to the evidence submitted was motivated by bias.”

It added: “They genuinely regret their error in processing the follow-up written evidence and the impact it has had. I recognise the seriousness of the issues raised.

“I echo the apology provided by the team and regret the concerns this has caused and the impact this has had on Nordic Model Now! and Amanda.”

A spokesperson for the committee said its members carried out “very detailed and balanced scrutiny” of the “contentious” bill, including 540 written submissions.

They said the “conflicting evidence” the committee received meant the evidence was “not definitive and is highly contested”.

The spokesperson said: “In the end, at stage one, the whole parliament voted not to support the bill.

“Due to an administrative oversight, the supplementary submission was not circulated before the committee’s report was published.

“However, it was circulated to committee members and published online ahead of the stage one debate on the bill.

“The committee did have the benefit of hearing from the representative of Nordic Model Now! at the time.”