The First Minister is right: it's key what happened after this independent investigation. The Cabinet Secretary for Housing, Local Government and Planning was questioned about Mr Millington's appointment in the Equality and Social Justice Committee only last week. In her evidence, she said that, yes, prior to appointing Mr Millington, a complaint had been made about him in 2023, that he had been the subject of an investigation, and that

'that had concluded that there was no disciplinary case to answer.'

But we know that the independent external investigation did say that there was a case to pursue. The Government's most senior fire and rescue adviser, Dan Stephens, also downplayed the allegations against Mr Millington. In the same committee, he said that the disciplinary investigation found that no aspects of the allegations made against Mr Millington met the threshold for disciplinary action. But we have already established that the external report found evidence to support a prima facie case that may amount to bullying and harassment, and that if upheld, the report concluded that this may amount to misconduct or gross misconduct. Now, bearing in mind that Dan Stephens is aware

'of all complaints made against principal officers and the outcomes'— his words to the committee—does the First Minister, again, have confidence that Government has been given an accurate account of investigations, all investigations, including this independent external one?