By Paul Hutcheon

Copyright dailyrecord

Three SNP Cabinet Secretaries are among a raft of MSPs who have broken the rules on using their taxpayer-funded websites for political activity . Justice Secretary Angela Constance, Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth and Finance chief Shona Robison apologised for the infringements . Six Labour MSPs have also said sorry for political material appearing on their sites . Holyrood rules say publications funded from the public puse must not include party logos or be party political in nature. Materials cannot criticise other parties, refer to governments by their parties, or include live social media feeds which are party political in nature. Following a Record investigation, complaints about twelve MSPs were made to Holyrood and a probe was launched. According to a paper by the Parliament’s governing body, most of the twelve were in breach of the policy. On Constance, the paper stated: “During discussions, Ms Constance accepted that the complaints are valid, has apologised for the oversight and errors and accepts full responsibility for the website’s content.” The Justice Secretary has been asked to repay £270 covering half of the website’s annual hosting costs. Gilruth also apologised for the “oversight and errors” on her own website and accepted “full responsibility” for the content. She has been asked to repay £78.83 and told to provide assurances no further breaches will occur. A complaint against Robison about a live embed of a Twitter feed hosting political material was declared valid. Holyrood concluded: “Ms Robison has apologised for this oversight and error and the site has been amended to remove the live social media feed.” Public Health Minister Jenny Minto was also part of the probe which found the website was funded privately. But Holyrood recommended that Minto be asked to close or amend the website to remove the Parliament’s identity. According to the paper, Labour MSPs Sarah Boyack, Claire Baker, Monica Lennon, Martin Whitfield, Paul O’Kane, Jackie Baillie apologised for material on their websites. Lennon repaid £22.46 while Holyrood said of Baker: “It is recommended that Ms Baker be asked to provide assurances that any future Parliament funded website is fully compliant with the SPCB’s Policy.” They said of Baillie: “Ms Baillie accepted that the complaints are valid and has apologised for the oversight and error. Ms Baillie further advised that the website had previously been privately funded and has been parliamentary funded in the current session only.” MSP Foysol Choudhury was also part of the probe, but Holyrood his website is privately funded. Parliament also found a complaint against Tory MSP Rachael Hamilton was valid and she has been asked to repay a “proportionate amount of £180”. To sign up to the Daily R ecord Politics newsletter, click here