City colleges power battle intensifies over call for finance staff

A STRUGGLE for power over Glasgow’s multi-million-pound college sector has intensified.

The regional body set up to help run the city’s three colleges – City of Glasgow, Clyde and Glasgow Kelvin – has identified the need for additional staff at a cost of up to £180,000.

The Glasgow Colleges’ Regional Board (GCRB) argues the extra staff are necessary to add financial expertise and help it run the sector.

However, some colleges are privately concerned because the money will come directly from their budgets unless extra funding is provided. In addition, institutions already have their own finance directors and the appointment of additional staff at board level is seen as taking further power away.

John Gallacher, a Scottish organiser for the Unison union, said: “We would be concerned if the Glasgow regional board became too large and started to become a financial burden with costs passed on to the colleges. However, we believe that if the structure is to be effective in helping to run the three colleges then it will need that sort of expertise.”

Earlier this month, The Herald revealed minutes from a GCRB board meeting that showed leading figures engaged in an unprecedented row over who has ultimate control over decision making.

Paul Little, principal of City of Glasgow College, wrote to the GCRB accusing it of failing to be “fair, transparent and robust” over funding decisions and questioning why his college should answer to the umbrella body.

Robin Ashton, chairman of the GCRB, accused Mr Little of making a “very serious and completely unsubstantiated allegation” over the quality of its governance. Both Clyde and Kelvin colleges have accepted the role of the GCRB.

The row is the latest blow to the further education sector since the Scottish Government’s merger programme which reduced the number of colleges to 20 in 13 regions across the country. In an official report on the merger in 2016 Audit Scotland identified six colleges where severance arrangements for senior staff had been poorly handled.

Auditors also warned Edinburgh College it faced an uncertain financial future, racking up £3 million in debts.