Head of crisis-hit HES tells MSPs of pressures that led to six-month absence
Historic Environment Scotland CEO Katerina Brown has spoken for the first time of her experiences within the crisis-hit quango
The head of crisis-hit Historic Environment Scotland (HES) has told a Holyrood committee of the pressures that led her to be off sick for six months.
Chief Executive Katerina Brown told the audit committee that on joining HES in October 2024 she “undertook a number of activities” to find out the mechanics of the organisation.
During this, she added, “numerous issues came to light” that she raised with the HES board.
She also reported to the Scottish Government that she felt “treated unfairly” by the board and, due to pressures at work, visited her GP to be signed off sick in May 2025.
“That is something which I have never done, ever, in my career,” Ms Brown added.
Ms Brown told the committee she was off work sick for two months and then “trying to return” for nearly four months.
Ms Brown said she contacted the HES board and the Scottish Government in July last year, saying: “I’m fit and ready to return to work.”
However she said at that point she was advised not to return to HES – the body responsible for more than 300 historic properties across Scotland, including Edinburgh Castle.
She said: “I was advised by the board they had received a letter to them with allegations against me, and to refrain from work until they were investigated.”
The letter was a collective grievance filed by seven HES directors, the contents of which was first revealed in The Scotsman.
Civil servant Gregor Irwin said the Scottish Government was “keen to facilitate good working between the CEO and the board” and offered a number of measures, such as external mediation.
Senior Scottish Government official Kenneth Hogg told MSPswhen Miss Brown took up her role with HES, “she began calling out issues which were less visible which were in the category of poor practice”.
The board “did not want her to return to work” after she went on sick leave in May 2025, he added.
This meant the organisation was without an accountable officer for nearly six months with it emerging that no one within HES was deemed suitable to step up into the role.
Shona Riach, Director-General Exchequer, told committee members Ms Brown was later suspended by the board.
Ms Riach said Ms Brown had “uncovered some substantive concerns which since then we have been working collectively together to find a way through a resolve.”
Graham Simpson, the Reform MSP, asked Ms Brown: "Did you come under pressure to stop delving?"
After a pause, Ms Brown said: "I carried on doing what I started doing."
MSPs also questioned Ms Brown; Sir Mark Jones, new HES chair; and Stephen Uphill, Chief Operating Officer of HES over the widespread use of electronic purchasing cards, the distribution of hospitality tickets, data protection failures and failures to put contracts out to tender.
These issues were all first revealed by The Scotsman and later raised in a report by the Auditor General for Scotland in December last year.
HES board chairman Sir Mark Jones told the committee there “may have been” problems with the body since its creation in 2015.
He told the committee work had begun in January this year on an “absolutely thorough review” of HES, which should be completed in May.
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