College pay-off staff face fresh grilling over £1.7m package
‘These figures are staggering’
MORE details of the ‘golden goodbyes’ awarded to senior college staff have been revealed as they prepare for further questioning by MSPs.
Derek Banks, ex-finance director at Coatbridge College in Lanarkshire is giving evidence to the public audit committee today. He received a total package of £115,493.
That was the third biggest pay-out, according to figures supplied to the committee by Auditor General Caroline Gardner, Scotland’s public spending watchdog.
Former human resources director Lorraine Gunn received £71,647. She also faces questioning by MSPs today.
Miss Gardner has described the handouts as one of the ‘most serious failures in governance’ she had encountered.
Combined payouts of £1.7million were made when Coatbridge merged with two other colleges, stunning MSPs and outraging staff, who received far smaller sums.
Miss Gardner has already revealed former principal John Doyle received £304,254 – including 24 months’ severance pay, despite Scottish Funding Council (SFC) guidance stating it should be capped at 12 months.
Margaret Rose Livingstone, who became acting principal for six months when he left, received a £120,123 package.
She now works for taxpayerfunded quango Education Scotland as an inspector.
It has now emerged that two other directors received packages of £83,835 and £91,608, while a member of staff in Mr Doyle’s office received £60,351 – three times their former salary.
At least four packages breached the SFC’s 12-month cap, including that of Mr Banks.
Lib Dem committee member Tavish Scott said: ‘These figures are staggering. There are questions to answer over the extent of these payments and whether they were replicated at other colleges across Scotland. We have already been told that the mammoth pay-off offered to the former principal did not come from commercial income or directly from the SFC.
‘The only other place this money could have come from is money that should have gone to support students.’
Tory deputy convener of the committee Mary Scanlon said: ‘Most hard-working Scots will be shocked to hear so much of their cash has gone on the severance pay of college staff.’
Scottish Labour opportunity spokesman Iain Gray said: ‘The more scrutiny this case comes under the worse it looks. This is all happening in a sector under enormous pressure because of SNP government cuts, which have resulted in 140,000 fewer students going to college.’
Today’s meeting will also hear evidence from the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator and lawyers from Biggart Baillie.
In evidence to the committee last month, Mr Doyle said Biggart Baillie, the college’s law firm, was brought in to act as an independent auditor to protect him from a conflict of interests.
Meanwhile, chartered accountant Wylie & Bisset has written to MSPs to say it attended three meetings of the college’s own audit committee in 2013, but was not made aware of the size of pay-offs proposed.
Partner Allister Gray wrote: ‘My colleagues have confirmed, based on their recollection, that no matters in relation to severance arrangements were discussed at these meetings.’