HUMZA Yousaf will not face further action after the Tories reported the Health Secretary over an alleged breach of the ministerial code.
Yousaf apologised to Parliament yesterday after a statement on actions to ease the ambulance backlog was briefed to a newspaper before being made in Holyrood.
Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone said it was "extremely disappointing" that Yousaf spoke to the Daily Record ahead of the statement.
The Health Secretary told the paper the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service would be brought in to support the ambulance service, which has suffered from a backlog causing long waits for care.
The Scottish Tories reported Yousaf to the First Minister and the chair of Parliament’s Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee over the matter, claiming that it amounted to a breach of the ministerial code.
The party's chief whip Stephen Kerr wrote to Sturgeon earlier today saying that Yousaf had shown "complete disregard for the ministerial code" by announcing details of the statement to the media first.
However, the Scottish Government has said that it now considers the matter closed after Yousaf's apology in the chamber.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Mr Yousaf has given a given a formal, in-person apology to the Chamber of the Scottish Parliament and to the Presiding Officer. As such we consider the matter closed.”
In his letter to the First Minister, Kerr called for a "thorough investigation" to ensure that something like this never happens again in the Scottish Parliament, but no mention was made of the many times the Tory government in Westminster has briefed the media before parliament.
Despite complaints by SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford MP in July about senior Tory ministers briefing the press before MPs about details of lockdown easing in England, there was no formal investigation.
Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle spoke to Boris Johnson about the UK Government's tendency to brief the media first and accused Downing Street of “running roughshod” over MPs for the practice.
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