FOURTEEN Scottish college principals shared nearly £2.4 million in pay-outs under a controversial national merger scheme.

According to new figures, the highest payment was £315,000 awarded to Ronnie Knox, the former principal of North Glasgow College, under a deal already questioned by public spending watchdog Audit Scotland.

John Doyle, the former principal of Coatbridge College, received the next highest payment of £304,000 - a package which is currently under scrutiny from Holyrood's public audit committee following concerns of poor governance.

Other significant payments were the £249,000 paid to Brian Lister, former principal of Stevenson College, £248,898 to former principal of Langside College Andrew Haddon and £202,000 to Miles Dibsdall from Telford College.

Overall, the figures from the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) show total payments to principals of £2.38m under the 10 mergers in the college sector between 2012 and 2014.

The information was published as Mr Doyle prepares to return to the public audit committee for the second time to answer questions on his severance payment, which has been criticised by Audit Scotland.

Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) union, which represents lecturers, highlighted the concerns of lecturers and support staff, many of whom have been made redundant under the merger programme and wider college cuts.

He said: "While payment in case of redundancy is normally appropriate, it is essential that the process is robust and fair, particularly when there have been significant job losses for teaching and support staff throughout the further education sector over the past few years.

"It is clear the redundancy terms offered to lecturing and support staff were nowhere near as generous as some of the packages that were paid to very senior managers."

An SFC spokesman said college boards of management were responsible for deciding on severance packages for principals, but should do so in line with national guidance.

He added: "We place reliance on assurances from audit processes and would not usually get involved in the detail of severance arrangements.

"The exception to this approach would be if we became aware of any significance governance issues and our interventions at Coatbridge College are an example of this.

"Consequently, SFC did not see the business cases relating to severances nor the finer detail of the components that make up the individual severance payments."

Meanwhile, in advance of his appearance today at the public audit committee, Mr Doyle submitted written evidence to the committee refuting claims by the college remuneration committee which approved his deal.

Members of the committee told MSPs they had not seen SFC guidance suggesting an upper limit on severance payments of 13 months before they approved Mr Doyle's deal of 24 months.

He responded: "Contrary to what they have repeatedly stated to the parliamentary audit committee, all members of the college remuneration committee were very aware of the SFC guidelines. For the record, I did not withhold information from the college remuneration committee."

Mr Doyle also said he "completely refuted" allegations he had colluded with college chair John Gray to withhold evidence from the remuneration committee.

The findings come after a raft of mergers in the further education sector since 2011/12 which has seen the number of colleges fall from 37 to 20.

When the plans were announced, the Scottish Government said mergers would deliver £50m of efficiency savings each year from 2015/16, along with other benefits such as reduced duplication, better engagement with employers and better outcomes for students.

The use of severance payments in the merger process was seen as an essential short-term measure as overall numbers of executive staff were cut, with savings expected in the long-term.

However, Audit Scotland identified six colleges where the way severance arrangements for senior staff were handled fell short of good practice.

And the public audit committee has already argued there are insufficient figures to demonstrate whether the merger process has generated promised efficiency savings.

Severance Payments to College Principals 2011-2014

College                     Principal                          Cost of Release

 

Anniesland          Linda McTavish                    £126,058

Angus                 John Burt                            £174,000

Ayr                     John Muir                            £146,164

Carnegie             Geoff Fenlon                        £170,511

Coatbridge           John Doyle                          £304,254

Coatbridge           Margaret Livingstone           £104,000

Clydebank           Gordon Paterson                  £126,031

James Watt         Sue Pinder                          £163,000

Langside              Andrew Haddon                  £248,898

Langside              Graeme Hyslop                   £85,885

North Glasgow     Ronnie Knox                       £314,946

Stow                   Bob McGrory                       £186,230

Stevenson           Brian Lister                         £249,000

Telford                 Miles Dibsdall                      £202,000

 

* A college appears twice if the principal left before the merger and an acting principal took over.