SNP spent £37million of your cash on BiFab ...now most of firm is sold off for just £850k
‘Unqualified’ 61-year-old was sacked as she had A-Levels – but no degree
A COMPANY that cost Scots taxpayers £37million has had two of its yards sold for £850,000 after it went bust.
Burntisland Fabrications (BiFab) was rescued by ministers in 2017 and bought by Canadian firm DF Barnes in 2018, but with the Scottish Government as the ‘primary financiers’.
BiFab has yards in Burntisland and Methil, in Fife, and one at Arnish, on the Isle of Lewis.
Now, Harland & Wolff (Methil) Limited, a subsidiary of London-based InfraStrata Plc, has taken on the Methil and Lewis sites in an £850,000 deal.
The 2018 deal saw ministers invest £37million, with the Government becoming a minority shareholder, while DF Barnes got a 67 per cent share for £4.
However, BiFab entered administration in December of last year after sealing only two contracts after the takeover.
Scottish Conservative finance spokesman Murdo Fraser said the SNP had ‘squandered’ taxpayers’ cash with its ‘atrocious mismanagement’.
He added: ‘The news that two of the BiFab sites have been bought out of administration will bring hope to workers who suffered devastating news before Christmas.
‘We must see concrete plans from the new investors that will deliver on the potential this company has to secure jobs and sustainable long-term growth.
‘The SNP Government have squandered far too much public money previously with their atrocious mismanagement of the operations at these yards.
‘They can’t hide from their failures to be transparent and accountable over funding that was given out. The SNP must also urgently engage with the new investors to make BiFab fully competitive.’
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and Fife MSP Willie Rennie warned there was a need ‘to be cautious until we see the full plans, investment and commitment from the new owners’.
He said: ‘The potential is great with all the wind farms on the verge of construction off the shores of Scotland, but the yards need significant investment to [be] competitive with yards from the Far East.’
Scottish Labour economy spokesman Alex Rowley called for the new employers to engage with the trade unions, who have themselves called for more support for the offshore wind sector – where the BiFab yards have previously been involved.
Unite Scotland secretary Pat Rafferty and GMB Scotland secretary Gary Smith said: ‘We have always believed that the BiFab yards, and indeed yards and ports all over Scotland, are uniquely placed to capture the benefits of the offshore wind sector.
‘However, the story so far has been one of government failure – thousands of jobs and billions of pounds have been outsourced around the world when Scottish communities should have been benefiting from these contracts. Now the Scottish and UK Governments have been given a reprieve and they need to step up and support the new ownership.’
STUC general secretary Roz Foyer said: ‘We will continue to press for a solution for the Burntisland yard, which is not included in this deal. This is just the start of our battle for a plan for jobs in manufacturing and renewables in Scotland.’
John Wood, chief executive of InfraStrata, said: ‘With this acquisition we now have a footprint in Scotland, which is the hotbed for major wind farm projects as well as for shipbuilding programmes.
‘I wish to warmly welcome the personnel whom we have taken on at Methil and Arnish and I am confident we will turn these facilities into highly successful businesses that generate jobs and investment into their local economies in due course.’
Gavin Park, restructuring director at administrators Deloitte, said the sale included ‘the transfer of all employees and licenses to occupy sites in Methil and on Lewis’.
The Scottish Government has said it will engage with Burntisland yard owner Forth Ports to ‘help secure the best possible outcome for that yard’.
‘Generate jobs and investment’
A VETERAN prep school teacher who was sacked after pushy parents complained that she wasn’t qualified has been awarded more than £140,000.
Sue Allington, 61, was dismissed by Rose Hill School amid ‘ever-increasing levels of parental expectation’.
The school charges fees of up to £16,000 a year and sends its pupils to leading public schools.
But it was struggling to retain existing pupils and attract new ones due to a ‘difficult economic climate’ and ‘fierce’ competition from other nearby prep schools, an employment tribunal heard.
Mrs Allington, who successfully sued for age discrimination and unfair dismissal, started work at the school in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, in 2002 as a games teacher.
In 2012 she began teaching academic subjects to Year 2 pupils – six and seven-year-olds – twice a week and was considered ‘the best person for the job’ even though she had A-levels rather than a degree.
But in June 2018, after parents voiced concerns about her lack of formal training, headmistress Emma Neville decided that it was ‘essential’ for all teachers to have Level 6 NVQ (degree-level) qualifications.
Three parents, named only as Mrs P and Mr and Mrs M, had raised concerns about her lack of qualifications despite having no issues with her teaching.
But they had also sent ‘thank you’ notes to Mrs Allington, the employment tribunal in Croydon, south London, heard.
Mrs Allington was told she had to study an undergraduate course to qualify or face demotion to a teaching assistant.
Demotion would have meant a 40 per cent pay cut from £30,723 to £19,095. She was sacked in August 2019 for refusing to accept demotion or retrain.
Rose Hill, which has around 300 pupils aged three to 13, claimed her sacking was justified because it had to ‘maintain its competitive edge to meet everincreasing levels of parental expectation’, the tribunal heard.
But the panel ruled that Mrs Allington could not be expected to take on an undergraduate course at her age because she planned to retire at 65. Miss
Neville claimed government rules suggested only qualified teachers could teach, but the tribunal said ‘there was no government directive applicable... that required schools to employ only qualified teachers’.
Judge Ian Truscott QC ruled that ‘there was no need for Mrs Allington to be dismissed’.
Rose Hill sends its pupils to public schools including Tonbridge, Sevenoaks and Brighton College. Mrs Allington was awarded £141,334 including £49,707 to cover future loss of earnings, £40,725 for losses up to the date of the hearing and £14,000 for injury to her feelings.
Afterwards she said: ‘It has been a very stressful two and a half years and now I want to move on.’
‘Study or face demotion’