The new chairman of Historic Environment Scotland has insisted it takes allegations of racism “very seriously” – while indicating staff involved could still have a role in the organisation.

Sir Mark Jones, who took up the post at the crisis-hit heritage body just over a month ago, told MSPs he is aware of two allegations of racism.

Appearing at Holyrood’s Culture Committee on Thursday, he said one had taken place over a year ago, while the other was “a bit more recent than that”.

He said: “We have taken both of those very seriously, and in one case the situation was dealt with and in the other case there is a live investigation which is not yet concluded.”

He stressed the HES board and “the organisation as a whole are committed to zero-tolerance of any form of prejudice or discriminati

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