£30k of your cash to teach water bosses how to ‘trust’ one another
‘Contract should be scrapped’
ScOtLAnD’S water industry watchdog will fork out £30,000 of public money to train executives how to ‘trust’ each other and ‘lead authentically’ after its boss quit over a spending row.
executives at the crisis-hit Water industry commission of Scotland (WicS) will be sent on a coaching programme aimed at driving ‘cultural change within the organisation’.
the watchdog – which regulates Scottish Water – has been mired in controversy since it was criticised for ‘unacceptable use of public funds’ by the Auditor General.
its former chief executive Alan Sutherland quit his £182,500-a-year job in December with a £90,000 payment in lieu of notice after auditors found the financial management had fallen ‘far short of what is expected of a public body’.
he had attended a £200-a-head dinner on expenses without providing itemised receipts, while chief operating officer Michelle Ashford was flown business class to America to attend a course at harvard Business School at a cost to the taxpayer of more than £77,000.
the US trip and the decision to spend £2,600 on buying all 26 staff a £100 gift card for christmas had to be retrospectively approved by the Scottish Government. now tens of thousands of pounds will be spent on providing training for the organisation’s executives.
WicS yesterday opened the brief for tenders from ‘executive coaching services’ on the Public contracts Scotland portal.
its advert states: ‘the programme should seek to develop the team in understanding and enhancing their leadership styles... to lead authentically and drive cultural change within the organisation. the group coaching should focus on working with a team in crisis and developing trust between members.’
Last night there were calls for the contract to be scrapped. Scottish conservative spokesman for net zero, energy and transport Douglas Lumsden said: ‘hard-pressed Scots should not be footing the bill as this quango aims to clean up their act.’
William Yarwood, media campaign manager at the taxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘this contract should be scrapped and staff should instead be told that if they can’t respect taxpayers’ money they’ll need to find work elsewhere.’
in December auditors ‘identified significant weaknesses in the governance and financial management arrangements’ at WicS. Auditor General Stephen Boyle said: ‘these findings highlight unacceptable behaviour by senior commission officials in the use of public funds.’
A spokesman for WicS said: ‘this training investment builds on progress made to date and further underlines our commitment to embedding change in the
organisation.’