THE refusal of a senior Welsh Government official to release a report into the alleged leaking of Carl Sargeant's sacking has been branded "simply unacceptable and bitterly disappointing".

Mr Sargeant lost his job as communities and children secretary in a reshuffle in November. He died four days later.

Following his death, allegations arose news the Alyn and Deeside AM was about to lose his cabinet job had been leaked.

The Welsh Government's permanent secretary Dame Shan Morgan launched an inquiry, but found "no evidence of prior unauthorised sharing of information".

And last month AMs voted to ask for the full report into her investigation to be released.

But, in a letter to AMs today, Dame Shan again refused to release the report.

She said: "It would not be appropriate for me to release any details about who was interviewed during the investigation or the information given.

"As well as the obvious risk of a breach of personal data, it would also act as a disincentive to potential witnesses to come forward or co-operate in future investigations if they could not be confident that their anonymity, and the information which they supplied, would be protected.

"Similarly, I do not feel it appropriate to release the report itself, either in full or in a redacted form, because of the implications for the handling of future investigations."

She also detailed how the investigation was carried out, stating: "It is unusual for persons outside the Welsh Government to be interviewed in relation to leak investigations, but on this occasion some interviews were conducted with some external individuals who proactively came forward to volunteer information or were identified as possibly having information that could be relevant to the investigation."

She added: "I hope that AMs will recognise that I ave gone as far as I feel that I possible can to respond positively to the resolution of the Assembly without divulging details of those interviewed or the evidence which they submitted."

The decision has been branded “simply unacceptable and bitterly disappointing" by Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies.

“The will of the National Assembly was clear and the excuses for not publishing the report are at best weak, and at worst plain obstructive," he said.

He added: "The longer this façade continues the more damaging it is for the Welsh Government, and our democratic processes cannot continue to be marred by persistent stonewalling, particularly when matters of significant public interest are at stake.

“If there is nothing to hide then there is no reason why a redacted version of the report cannot be published. We will now consider all available options to ensure the will of the National Assembly for Wales is respected.”