A GOVERNMENT minister has apologised unreservedly to a female civil servant who asked to be moved out of his private office because of his behaviour towards her, it was revealed last night.
The Department of Health said the woman was "unhappy with the nature of her working relationship" with junior minister Ivan Lewis, right, but chose not to bring a formal complaint against him.
Reports suggested that the minister bombarded his youn
g assistant private secretary, 24 at the time, with dozens of suggestive text messages.
She had been appointed to 41-year-old Lewis's private office when he joined the Department of Health in 2006. After complaining to her managers about his behaviour, she moved to another post within the department and has since left for an accountancy firm.
The Department of Health said: "In 2007, a member of staff in the private office of Ivan Lewis informed her managers that she was unhappy with the nature of her working relationship with the minister.
"The situation was handled professionally and sensitively in full accordance with the employee's wishes. She raised no formal complaint against the minister and, as indicated, all the actions to resolve the matter were agreed with her.
"It was in that context that the decision was taken at the time not to pursue the matter further.
"At her request she left the minister's office and was given another job in the department. She was a hard-working, extremely competent employee and we were sad to see her subsequently leave the Department of Health. The minister in question apologises unreservedly."
Lewis has been MP for Bury South since 1997. He joined the Government as a junior minister in the Education Department in 2001 and moved to the Treasury before being appointed to his current position with responsibility for social care and mental health in 2006.
He kept his post in Gordon Brown's first reshuffle after taking over as Prime Minister last year, but was later seen to have damaged his career prospects with press articles claiming Labour was "losing touch" with an angry and disappointed electorate.
Last month, he risked further anger from No 10 when he urged Brown to consider a new tax on top earners to help ordinary families through the economic downturn.
The full article contains 383 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
