By Steve Bargeton, political editor

JUST OVER one in ten of the 472 staff at the Scottish Parliament claim they have been bullied or harassed.

However, MSPs were told yesterday a staff audit found 90% recommended Holyrood as an employer.

Equalities manager Aneela McKenna told the equal opportunities committee 10.6% of staff said they had encountered bullying or harassment.

It was an improvement on a previous figure of 13.2%.

“We still have to take pro-active steps to ensure we are preventing bullying and harassment in the workplace,” she said.

“We are looking at some areas where we can develop some guidance for staff and managers.”

Ms McKenna told Marlyn Glen, Labour MSP for north-east Scotland, the bullying figure compared well with other employers.

“At my previous employer it was 25%,” said Ms McKenna.

“Ten per cent for bullying and harassment is not that bad.

“You are going to get that in hierarchical organisation.

“Bullying and harassment does exist.

“It’s something that we can’t ignore.”

Scottish Tory MSP John Scott, a member of the parliament’s corporate body, expressed concerned that 17% of staff in the survey said they had not received proper training.

“One issue that concerned me is that 17.2% of respondents said they had not received sufficient training,” he said.

“It is not an equality issue but I think it is something we may need to address if one in six of our staff feel they have not had sufficient training.”

Mr Scott said the same figure in a 2003 survey had been only 10%.