KEEP Scotland Beautiful has become embroiled in nepotism allegations after the chief executive's wife landed a top job at the publicly funded environmental charity.
Catherine Gee was appointed "head of corporate services" at Keep Scotland Beautiful (KSB) without the post being externally advertised, months after her husband became the charity's CEO. She was the only person to apply for the job.
SNP MSP John Wilson said the appointment raised "serious issues" for the charity.
KSB has a key role in helping reduce Scotland's carbon footprint, particularly in giving a lead on anti-litter strategies.
The charity also administers the Scottish Government's Climate Challenge Fund and has recently launched a new campaign to "clean up" the country.
In 2011, KSB had income of £16.6m, about £15.3m of which came from Government funding. It is now facing questions about its hiring practices.
In March last year, Derek Robertson was unveiled as the organisation's new chief executive.
He brought 20 years of senior management experience to the role, including CEO positions at other charities.
Months after he took up the post, Robertson's wife Catherine was given a temporary contract at the charity as a "change manager".
At the end of 2011, the chief executive and another senior member of staff, John Frater, decided to restructure KSB's senior management, changes that included a new head of corporate services.
The post was only advertised internally and Gee was given the job, which attracts a salary of up to £45,000 a year and is one of the charity's four "executive team" positions. Robertson earns up to £70,000 a year.
Speaking to the Sunday Herald, Frater said that although he and Derek Robertson planned the new management structure, the CEO played no role in the recruitment of his wife.
On not advertising the job publicly, Frater said: "We normally do things internally first and externally thereafter, if we are unable to fill."
Asked how many internal staff had applied for the post, Frater said: "One. Just her."
The married couple have been linked to other environmental organisations in the past.
In 2009, both were directors of The Green Academy Ltd, posts that have since ceased to exist.
They are also listed as directors of Give Green Limited, a firm incorporated in 2010 but which is described as "non-trading".
Gee's online biography states that her executive position focuses on "organisational development and change management".
Her early career was in business management within the legal profession, after which she switched to the third sector.
Wilson said: "The decision by Keep Scotland Beautiful to give a permanent post to the chief executive's wife raises serious issues of nepotism.
"As the main funder of Keep Scotland Beautiful, the Scottish Government should be calling for an immediate response from the charity. No Government-funded body should be exempt from scrutiny of its recruitment policy, particularly during a recession."
Labour MP Graeme Morrice said: "Given that KSB relies on millions of pounds of public money, its recruitment processes have to be seen to be open and not tainted by any perception of favouritism. I am disappointed this post was not externally advertised and SNP ministers should be seeking answers about this appointment."
In a statement, Frater said: "Following a recruitment process using the charity's standard practices, Keep Scotland Beautiful was very fortunate to be able to secure the services of Catherine Gee as its head of corporate services. The chief executive played no part in the selection process, which was undertaken by a charity trustee and the company secretary."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article