Sunday Herald , 3 June 2007

Paul Hutcheon 

A HOLYROOD business scheme criticised for giving lobbyists preferential access to MSPs has run into further trouble after an industry insider was appointed as its interim director.

TheScottishParliamentBusiness Exchange(SPBE),whichhasbeen markedbyseveralwell-publicised controversies, has given the plum job to Devin Scobie, an Edinburgh-based lobbyist.LyndaGauld,anassociate directoratScobie'sfirm,isalso convener of the exchange.

His appointment has prompted MSPs to urge the parliament to clarify its relationship with the organisation, which lists "non-lobbying" as one of its key principles.

The row follows the SPBE relaunch in Holyrood last week, an event attended by senior MSPs in all the major parties.

The exchange was set up in 2001 to help MSPs understand business by setting up placements in the private sector, while also giving industry figures the opportunity of shadowing an MSP.

But the body ran into problems after it emerged that many of the "member" organisations were being represented by commercial lobbyists.

It encountered another difficulty after one of the MSP participants, Labour's Margaret Jamieson, signed a 10-year confidentiality agreement with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer as a condition of accepting a placement.

A report by the Standards Committee criticised the exchange and described its lack of legal accountability to Parliament as "unacceptable". Around £100,000 of public money was also given to the organisation.

However,theSundayHeraldcan reveal that the relaunched SPBE has failed to address the key problem raised by its critics, namely its closeness to Scotland's lobbying fraternity.

Scobie,themanagingdirectorof Caledonia Consulting, is in charge of theexchangeonaninterimbasis following the departure of Ann Mearns.

Caledonia's website offers clients a fixed fee charge for its services, such as £2000 for a "political audit". His internet blurb also states his team is "well-known" to MSPs.

But the appointment appears to jar with one of thekey principles of the exchange, which is that the organisation mustbe"non-lobbying"innature. Several MSPs sit on SPBE's board of directors, and presiding officer Alex Fergusson is listed as its honorary president.

SNP MSP Alex Neil said : "I think there has to be a clear statement from the Exchange, making it clear that the new interim director cannot use his position to further his lobbying interests."

"Idon'treallyconsidermyselfa lobbyist, I consider myself a business consultant," said Scobie. "The clients that I workwith want to understand how parliamentoperates,theywantto understand how the committees are set up. It's not a case of saying, Devin, get closer to MSP X or Y'."