KIRSTY WARK, the Newsnight presenter, has been accused of restricting the terms of the Fraser inquiry by refusing to answer questions about her company’s controversial documentary on the Holyrood project.

Wark has written to Lord Fraser, the inquiry chairman, making it clear that she will answer questions only about her role on the judging panel that picked the winning Holyrood design when she takes the witness stand this week.

BBC Scotland commissioned the production firm that she runs with her husband Alan Clements to produce The Gathering Place with a budget of £820,000 of public money.

The corporation has refused Fraser’s request to hand over taped interviews from the film, claiming that it would breach confidentiality agreements with the contributors.

Fraser and the BBC are still deadlocked over the issue, with Fraser insisting that the interviews could be valuable evidence as he investigates why the building is three years behind schedule and 10 times its original budget at £400m.

The film includes interviews with Donald Dewar and Enric Miralles, the Spanish architect, who died just four months before Dewar, the chair of the judging panel, in 2000. Clements has said that the company will make a profit of no more than £60,000 from the film, adding that it is “not worth the abuse that has been levelled at me and my colleagues”.

Wark has insisted that the dispute is a matter for the BBC as it holds copyright over the material.

Instead Wark will be quizzed about her role as a member of the judging panel that picked the Miralles design.

Her insistence on setting the ground rules for what she is prepared to discuss has angered opposition politicians.

“Those involved in The Gathering Place documentary seem to think they are above the inquiry process but they are sadly mistaken,” said John Swinney, the SNP leader. “They should be open with Lord Fraser and tell him everything they know about the scandal that is Holyrood.”

David McLetchie, leader of the Scottish Conservative party, said Wark’s position highlighted the inquiry’s lack of powers. “Had the Fraser inquiry been given the powers which we have been calling for from the beginning, this situation would not have come about,” he said.

“ The tapes would have been handed over and the stubbornness of the BBC would not have been an issue.”

Wark is expected to be asked why Miralles was rejected by the panel in the early stages before being awarded the contract as part of a joint venture with RMJM, the Edinburgh-based architects. A design by RMJM was also rejected in the first phase of the design competition in 1998.

Wark, a close friend of Dewar, will also be asked why Miralles’s conceptual design, based on up-turned boats, was thought to be suitable for the Holyrood site and whether the project’s budget was realistic.

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