WILLIE Rennie has called on the Scottish Government to review its policy on public servants holding outside interests after Lena Wilson brought her at times controversial tenure as boss of Scottish Enterprise to a close.

The leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats has been a vocal critic of Ms Wilson’s role on the board of Intertek, calling into question her ability to focus completely on leading the economic development agency while earning a lucrative sideline at the FTSE-listed company.

Mr Rennie criticised Ms Wilson’s paymasters for allowing her to take the outside job when it emerged in 2015 that she received a total £68,000 for her work at the company in the prior year. It also emerged that year that the quango boss had seen her basic pay increase by an above inflation 2.5 per cent to £208,000, in the 2014-15 period, as dozens of Scottish Enterprise staff were forced to take severe wage cuts.

According to Intertek’s latest annual report, Ms Wilson earned fees of £68,000 last year, which involved her attending four of the five board meetings that she would be eligible to attend.

Mr Rennie said: “I wish Lena Wilson well as she moves on from Scottish Enterprise. Whilst I disagreed with the decision to allow her to take a directorship with Intertek whilst she was heading Scotland’s economic development agency I respected her and the work she did on our behalf.

“The Scottish Government must now change its policy on outside interests on this scale.

“Any future chief executive should be focused on driving Scotland’s economic development rather than being distracted by other significant financial and work interests. Earning over £200,000 should be sufficient income without the need for any directorships earning over £60,000.

“Ministers should change the policy now and make it clear to applicants that we will require their undivided attention.”

Scottish Enterprise has previously defended Ms Wilson’s work for Intertek, where she has been on the board as a non-executive director since 2012.

When news of her earnings at the firm emerged two years ago the agency declared that Ms Wilson regularly “works well in excess of her contracted hours”. Scottish Enterprise also said Ms Wilson, who was reappointed to the Intertek board in 2015, was able to gain access to key decision makers and stakeholders through the role.

Ms Wilson broke the news that she would be ending her leadership of Scotland’s taxpayer-funded economic development agency to an end to staff yesterday morning.

The decision saw Ms Wilson, one of Scotland’s most highly-paid public sector bosses, greeted with praise from First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and agency chairman Bob Keiller for the contribution she has made to an organisation she has been involved with since 1989.

But her career with the quango, which she has led as chief executive for nearly eight years, has not been free from controversy. As well as the Intertek row, Ms Wilson and her employers have faced frequent criticism over the level of remuneration she has received as one of Scotland’s most high-profile public servants.

The recent Scottish Enterprise report shows that Ms Wilson was paid a salary of £212,000 for her duties as chief executive in the year ended March 2016. Her total remuneration package rose to £276,000 taking pension benefits into account.

Responding to the announcement of Ms Wilson’s departure, Colin Borland, head of devolved nations at the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), said: “In Scottish business circles, there are few more high-profile figures than Dr Lena Wilson. Reaching the top of any large organisation is a tremendous career achievement, and Lena deserves praise for leading Scottish Enterprise through an economically and politically tumultuous period. While there’s still much disagreement about the direction of economic development policy in Scotland, we’ll always require talented individuals at the top of our skills and enterprise agencies.”

During her tenure Ms Wilson, who has held a number of economic development roles at home and abroad, including a secondment to the World Bank, has seen the agency grow from having 1,086 staff in 2009 to 1,246 this year. Ms Wilson is now responsible for a budget of £291.4m, compared with £319m in 2009/10.

According to the most recent Scottish Enterprise report, the agency helped businesses secure more than 4,000 jobs in Scotland by accessing Regional Selective Assistance grants. It also helped 340 companies export for the first time.

Scottish Enterprise said the search for Ms Wilson’s successor was under way.

Ms Wilson, who has yet to reveal what her next move will be, said: “It has been a real honour and privilege to work with so many talented people who want to make a positive difference for Scotland, but it is now time for me to embark on a fresh set of challenges.”

Bob Keiller, chairman of Scottish Enterprise, said: “Lena has done an outstanding job as CEO, driving a much more international mindset across the whole organisation and overseeing record levels of innovation and growth among the companies SE works with as a result.”