EXCLUSIVE
Tom Gordon
Scottish Political Editor
ALEX NEIL is embroiled in a cronyism row after promoting an official from his local party to a £12,000-a-year post on an NHS board instead of a senior health professional.
In his previous cabinet role as Health Secretary, Neil appointed railway manager Phil Campbell as vice-chair of NHS Lanarkshire instead of respected social work expert Dr Avril Osborne.
Campbell, a full-time First Group worker, is secretary of the SNP in Neil's Airdrie & Shotts seat.
Dr Osborne, the loser in the two-horse race, is a former inspector of social work at the Scottish Office with 40 years experience in her field and a Masters degree in management.
After the Orkney child abuse scandal in the early 1990s, when officials wrongly removed children from their families, she was sent in to fix the department as its new director.
One of the biggest issues currently facing Lanarkshire and other NHS boards is the integration of health and social work services.
Labour said the appointment "stinks of cronyism".
Neil first appointed Campbell, 40, to the board of NHS Lanarkshire in May 2013, on a four-year term paying £8008 a year for a commitment of eight hours a week.
When the previous vice chair stood down last summer, chair Neena Mahal asked board members to apply, and it came down to a straight fight between Campbell and Osborne.
At the end of October, Mahal put the pair forward to Neil for a decision, saying both were "strong nominees" but had "different skillsets and expertise".
Mahal said that since 70-year-old Osborne joined the board in March 2014, she had made "a significant leadership contribution" and "quickly gained credibility and respect as a valued member of the Board... [and] is committed to an ethos of quality and improvement".
While Campbell brought "a fresh perspective from the corporate sector", had demonstrated "a robust and rigorous approach to governance", and "gained credibility as a Board member who endeavours to be fully involved... in spite of being in full-time employment".
Mahal said she would welcome a chance to discuss both nominations with Neil, however four days later Neil chose Campbell without further ado.
The promotion gave Campbell a £4004-a-year pay bump for four extra hours work per week.
Section 5.9 of the Scottish Ministerial Code says ministers "must" consult the First Minister about "any appointment which is likely to have political significance", but Neil did not do so.
A fortnight after the decision, Neil was moved out the health brief in a reshuffle and is now the Secretary for Social Justice, Communities and Pensioners' Rights.
Pamela Nash, Labour MP for Airdrie and Shotts, said: "Alex Neil picked a man who delivered leaflets for him, rather than a woman with senior management experience in social work.
"At a time when our NHS is under huge strain this stinks of cronyism and jobs for the boys.
"People will find it very hard to believe that an SNP official was the best man to stand up for the NHS in Lanarkshire."
Neil vigorously defended the appointment, saying Campbell was simply the best person for the job and it would have been wrong to reject him in case his SNP activism led to controversy.
"It's a bit of a cheek from Pamela Nash to accuse anyone else of cronyism when Lanarkshire Labour and the Mafia that runs it have lived off cronyism for 50 years," he said.
"This was not cronyism, this was me picking the person who was the best person for the job and who had been nominated by the chair of the board.
"I don't think there's anything unreasonable about that whatsoever - he is a first class vice chair and he got it on merit, almost despite the fact he was politically active, because I knew it would be controversial because the Labour Party would kick up a stink.
"What Pamela Nash knows about the health service you could write on the back of a postage stamp."
Campbell did not respond to email requests for comment.
NHS Lanarkshire said: "We are delighted with the appointment of Phil Campbell to the role of vice-chair and with the skill and expertise he brings to the Board."
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