A PARLIAMENTARY report into a former college principal accused of accepting a "vastly excessive" severance payment has been passed to police.

MSPs also called on John Doyle, the former principal of Coatbridge College, in North Lanarkshire, to repay part of his £304,000 deal.

And in a case that was described as an "appalling abuse of the public purse", the report also criticised the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) which was responsible for overseeing the merger process.

The report was published after an inquiry by the Scottish Parliament's public audit committee into severance payments at the college.

Mr Doyle and other senior managers shared £850,000 in pay-offs as part of a severance package when the college merged with two others in 2013 to form New College Lanarkshire.

Last summer, Auditor General Caroline Gardner issued a highly-critical report of the severance deal to Mr Doyle - who has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

The committee also agreed with Ms Gardner's view that John Gray, the chair of the former college, colluded with Mr Doyle "to get the result they wanted" by "withholding relevant information from the college’s remuneration committee" which approved the payment.

Paul Martin, convener of the committee, said: "There is a compelling moral argument for John Doyle to repay the tens of thousands of pounds extra he received from the college.

“The Scottish Government provided more than £52 million between 2011/12 and 2013/14 to support the college merger process and most of that money was used to fund voluntary severance schemes.

“It was not provided, however, to allow already highly-paid public servants to feather their own nests at the expense of their colleagues and of their students’ education."

The Herald: The former Coatbridge College in Lanarkshire is at the centre of an investigation into severance packages made to senior managers.

The former Coatbridge College, in North Lanarkshire

Mr Martin said evidence sessions of the committee "demonstrated clearly" that Mr Doyle’s severance payment was "engineered through a process of misinformation and disregard for existing guidelines and process".

He added: “We found smokescreens where we should have found spotlights, distractions when we wanted directness. Behind it all lies an appalling abuse of the public purse. There simply was no business case for the former principal to receive the level of severance payment he received.

“Given the nature of much of the evidence we received, we are providing Police Scotland with a copy of this report to enable it to consider what action might be appropriate

“We very much hope that all our report is accepted and action is taken to ensure that situations such as this one simply do not happen again.

“Given the nature of much of the evidence we received, we are providing Police Scotland with a copy of this report to enable it to consider what action might be appropriate

The committee has also called for the college governance task group, led by ministers, to take action to ensure something similar could not happen again.

There was also criticism of the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), which oversaw the college merger process.

The report said: "Given the significant governance and oversight failings, the Scottish Government must look at the operation of the SFC and the effectiveness of its supervisory role."