SNP Government to spend £200,000 on 'psychological' tests for civil servants despite cuts

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Humza Yousaf’s skint Government is spending £200,000 on psychological tests for senior civil servants.The contract tender was published weeks before SNP and Green MSPs pushed through a cuts Budget.The upper echelons of the devolved civil services have become embroiled in well-publicised scandals in recent years.The UK Covid Inquiry was presented with evidence of top Scottish officials cracking jokes about deleting pandemic messages and trying to doge transparency laws.One former official, Ken Thomson, wrote: “Plausible deniability are my middle names.

Now clear it again!”Civil servants were also at fault during the Government’s unlawful probe into sexual harassment claims against former First Minister Alex Salmond.Lesley Evans, who was the most senior official at the time of the debacle, apologised for evidence to a Holyrood inquiry into the shambles.Details of the contract for “psychometric” testing was put out by the Government in February.These tests are used by employers to assess intelligence, abilities, potential and personality.They will be used to recruit officials at the highest levels, like Deputy Director, Director and Director General.The Government said the cost was expected to be around £200,000.At the same time, Ministers are slashing £196m from the housing budget.Chris McEleny, general secretary of Alba, said: “The Scottish Government will no doubt say this is the norm for senior appointments but it does raise questions over use of public money based on results.“Whoever wins the contract for psychological testing may want to check on the ability of senior civil servants to forget key information when it is required by an inquiry, their ability to correct the record when it’s pointed out they didn’t answer