Board in name but not function

There is not much point in having a board of directors if it is not responsible for the strategy of the organisation.

Why sit on a board if you are being asked to deliver someone else’s strategy? That is now the case for anyone on the board of Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

Yesterday the Scottish Government confirmed a strategic super board covering HIE and Scottish Enterprise among others.

This strategic board, based in Glasgow or Edinburgh, will produce a strategy. HIE will follow that strategy.

Does this matter, I hear you ask? Yes, if you believe that the economic and social development needs of the Highlands and islands are important. Businesses and communities across the area believe they are. Many have opposed the centralisation of HIE.

The Crerar Report said HIE’s board should be reduced to a delivery board.

That will now happen. Instead of HIE having a single-minded focus on just the Highlands and islands, it will follow a pan-Scotland strategy.

There will be, at some point in the future, a clever report that says ‘alignment’ and ‘our collective vision’ can be even better delivered by having just one economic development agency.

I will be happy to be proved wrong. But yesterday in parliament was no U-turn. The HIE board was retained in name but not in function. Otherwise why establish a Scotlandwide strategic board? The clue is in the name. Strategic board.

As the months pass, HIE will be pulled into the centre. Aligned with everyone else. How often will Ardnamurchan or Uyeasound feature on the agenda of a super board?

If other agencies do not do enough to support them with international business support then ministers should read the riot act. Not centralise strategy. That is what will happen. HIE is sadly diminished by this decision.