4 / NATIONAL POLITICS
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The Journal Wednesday 21 November 2012
SCOTTISH FURTHER EDUCATION POLICY: A GOVERNMENT IN CRISIS
Russell under pressure over Stow scandal Ousting of college chairman who recorded meeting with education secretary Mike Russell prompts calls for minister to resign Gareth Llewellyn Deputy managing editor, Glasgow
The resignation of a college chairman has raised questions over alleged bullying by education secretary Mike Russell, amid controversial college reform. The allegations surfaced during a public spat between Russell and Stow College chair Kirk Ramsay who stood down after an “unwarranted personal attack” by the SNP minister. The row began after Ramsay made a secret recording of a meeting with college chairs with a device dubbed a “spy pen”. A letter from Russell said: “It appears that an unauthorised audio recording was made of the event, without my knowledge or the courtesy of notifying those in attendance. I’m informed that this recording has now been distributed by Mr Ramsay. “I am afraid I do not regard Mr Ramsay’s actions as consistent in any way with the protocol expected at such an event or of the standards I expect [of the chairman of a board of management of ] any college.” In a statement last week, Ramsay said: “My resignation follows an unwarranted personal attack on me by Michael Russell MSP. “My passion and commitment for Stow College, and the college education
sector as a whole, is too great for me to allow any perceived error on my part to be allowed to inflict damage on the college, its students or staff, executives and board. “I remain firm in my belief that I have done nothing wrong and intend to clear my name.” Amid a fierce backlash against his college regionalisation programme, which has seen drastic budget cuts, mergers and fears of job losses and course cuts, the beleaguered minister took the unprecedented step of writing to every college principal and chairman in Scotland to highlight Ramsay’s recording. He then refused to apologise for questioning Ramsay’s suitability as chair of a college board of management and went on the offensive for a second time during heated exchanges with opposition MSPs at Holyrood last week. Russell said: “The Scottish Government believes the college sector, like any other, needs to be led and governed by people of the highest quality and standards. “Chief among their attributes must always be mutual trust and respect.” Ramsay’s justification for the recording was to ensure he and absent colleagues had an accurate record of the meeting and it was not submitted to outside parties. He said: “Rather than take detailed
notes of Mr Russell’s speech, I recorded his comments. This recording was solely for my own use and for others who could not attend. “I am extremely disappointed that Mr Russell has used his position to seek to exert such control, influence and power both privately, but also so publicly.” BBC Scotland have reported that opposition MSPs have seen their calls for an official inquiry blocked by the head of the education and culture committee, in a move that opposition members of the committee have called a “partisan” decision. The meeting, which Ramsay claims was attended by 80 people including college managers and civil servants, was seen as an opportunity for college leaders to speak to the education secretary about the Scottish Government’s controversial college reforms which will dramatically reduce the number of colleges. Stow College’s future remains uncertain after it abandoned plans to join the City of Glasgow College merger in 2010, instead opting to remain independent, but college management are now in talks to merge with North Glasgow College and John Wheatley College reducing the number of colleges in Glasgow from seven to three by 2013. Additional reporting: Daniel do Rosario.
EDITORIAL
Why The Journal believes that Mr Russell has failed as education secretary, and should resign
12
Scottish Government accused of ‘misleading parliament’ over FE cuts
PROFILE // STOW COLLEGE Ric Glassey
First minister Alex Salmond is forced to apologise to parliament, after insisting at FMQs that there had been no cut to college budgets Daniel do Rosario Political editor
Stow College in the Cowcaddens area of Glasgow was Glasgow’s first purpose-built college, named after a Victorian philanthropist and one of the greatest pioneers in the history of Scottish Education, David Stow, in 1934. Described at the time as a ‘trades school’, the initially college provided evening courses to help the workers and companies of Clydeside towards economic recovery. More recently the college’s primary focus has been on training in management, computing, electronics, science and music. In January 2000, the college expanded its operation with a new £1.3 million campus development on the semi-derelict Shakespeare Street Primary School in Maryhill and opened a new £1.5m science learning centre in 2005 at its city campus.
Scottish Government
Stow College’s proximity to the city centre meant joining a merger of Glasgow’s Nautical, Central and Metropolitan colleges seemed inevitable and it was part of plans to join, but the troubled college abandoned the move in 2009 amid an internal audit by the Scottish Funding Council into the college’s 2007/08 accounts. Three years later, with Mike Russell’s regionalisation reforms ramping up across the coutry, the college was snubbed by the ‘Clyde’ merger with college principals and board chairs particularly concerned about Stow’s estates and financial situation. In June 2012 the college then entered substantive merger negotiations, this time with North Glasgow College and John Wheatley College, with a proposed vesting date in 2013.
The Scottish Government was accused of misleading parliament about cuts to college funding last week, when it emerged that figures quoted by first minister Alex Salmond and his education secretary Mike Russell were incorrect. Under questioning from Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont, Mr Salmond repeatedly stated that the resource budget for Scotland’s colleges for 2011-12 to the current financial year had seen an increase from £545 million to £546 million — what Salmond called “about as exact an answer as anybody has given in any parliament”. Shortly after first minister’s questions, Labour circulated documents from the Scottish Parliament’s Information Centre indicating that college funding had in fact fallen, and that the figures quoted by Mr Salmond were obtained by comparing the draft budget figures from 2011-12 to the final (revised) figures for the current financial year. The revised figure for resource funding in 2011-12 was over £555 million, which means the allocated
revenue spending for Scotland’s colleges has fallen by over £9 million this year. Mr Russell is also under fire for two contradictory claims — one in June claiming that there was no fall in college funding, and then a written statement in October that stated there had indeed been cuts. During FMQs, Lamont said: “It is no longer a question of whether Mike Russell has misled parliament, but rather, when”, before suggesting that this might be grounds for Russell losing his job. Alluding to the controversy between Mike Russell and the chair of Stow College in Glasgow, Lamont said: “This week Mr Russell told a college chair he should resign because he no longer had any trust in him — well presiding officer, no one can have any trust in Mike Russell after this week.” “Mike Russell has told a college chair he would sack him if he had the power — but Mike Russell has misled this parliament, and the first minister has the power to sack him.” Salmond responded by listing the large number of MSPs that Scottish Labour had previously called on to
resign, before saying “the only person they haven’t called for is my resignation — a totally extraordinary situation.” At around 5pm, Salmond appeared before parliament to clarify the government’s position and to apologise over the incorrect figures, which he claimed to have used ‘in good faith’. He admitted that the 2011-12 figures he had used “failed to take into account revisions to funding” and stressed that “there was no intention to mislead.” He argued that was made clear in the fact that Russell had provided the correct figures in a letter to the education committee on 18 October. In the same FMQ’s, the first minister admitted that budgets for colleges were going to fall next year, but that capital spending was being allocated to help out. Revenue/resource spending is for day to day spending that an institution might need to do, for the delivery and purchase of services. Capital spending is spending allocated to improvements such as infrastructure and so on, which are expected to deliver a return. The Journal has pressed Russell over cuts to college spending before, but he ‘disputed’ our figures.