MANAGERS have been accused of “passing the buck” on who was to blame for financial failings which left one of Scotland’s largest colleges more than £3 million in debt.

Senior staff at Edinburgh College blamed former managerial mistakes for financial problems at the institution when they appeared before the Scottish Parliament’s public audit committee.

MSPs went on to describe the situation as “a total failure”, “a financial mess” and “unsatisfactory” during the evidence session.

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An Audit Scotland report published in March warned the college faced “significant financial challenges” after failing to meet its targets for student recruitment.

In autumn 2015, the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) said it intended to claw back £800,000 after concluding the college had breached new rules on how much extra learning for enrolled students - known as additionality - it could claim funding for.

SNP MSP Alex Neil said: “You’re all sitting passing the buck. Who, at the end of the day, should have picked this up when it should have been picked up and done something about it?”

John Kemp, the SFC’s interim chief executive, said the guidance, issued in July 2014, was clear and that the college had been told about the changes in several meetings.

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MSPs heard the guidance would have gone to the two vice-principals then responsible for the college’s curriculum, but internal auditors were not aware of a problem until the summer 2015.

Principal Annette Bruton, who took up her post in May 2015, said the new guidance should have been cross-checked against the curriculum, but that was not done thoroughly enough.

She said: “There was certainly evidence of the outcome agreement manager having had discussions with several different people in the executive team about reducing that additionality over time and some of that had been done, but not sufficient to meet the guidelines that were issued in 2014.

“There were management mistakes made by the college and I think we need to be clear that actually the college should have picked up that guidance and they should have taken action.”

MSPs heard the college had since changed its management structure and there had been staff changes at the top level.

Alan Williamson, former finance director and now the college’s chief operating officer, said he did not take any personal responsibility for the situation, but added: “Given the outcome, with hindsight, perhaps I should have been questioning more.”

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Chris Brown, head of assurance at college auditors KPMG, said he had seen the guidance when preparing the internal audit in July 2015, but the new section on additionality wasn’t immediately obvious in the 45-page document.

He said: “It doesn’t jump out at you as a new requirement, but the funding council does include in the guidance suggested audit tests none of which referred to additionality.”

Ms Bruton later said she did not recognise figures suggesting 18 management staff had left by voluntary severance at cost of £1.8 million during the merger of Jewel and Esk, Telford and Stevenson to form Edinburgh College.

She added: “I think the way the voluntary severance was managed, looking back on it, and you have to be careful with hindsight, could have been done differently.”