Murdo Fraser: “Ivan McKee as the minister responsible should come clean as to why these numbers have increased and if he is doing any…”

These figures confirm it is just lip service when SNP ministers have pledged to get serious about reining in their growing army of civil servants.

What an utter disgrace [Amnesty] is. Once a credible human rights organisation, it has been hijacked by woman-hating extremists who will even attack a rape crisis centre.

The fact that the workforce has actually increased at a time when SNP ministers have insisted their would be reduction in staffing levels could only have happened on the nationalists’ watch.

Any new chair – even on an interim basis – must be given the support and resources required by SNP ministers to finally fix the toxic culture that has engulfed HES for far too long.