CMAL’s “vindictive” chair is re-appointed
The Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Fiona Hyslop, has again shifted responsibility for her decision to remove the sole islander on the CMAL procurement quango board, Murdo Maclennan.
In a letter to Mr Maclennan, Ms Hyslop states: “The responsibility for making a reappointment recommendation lies solely with the Chair”. This evades the obvious point that the Minister is under no obligation to accept a “recommendation” from the Chair or anyone else.
It was announced this week, following Gazette inquiries, that Ms Hyslop has reappointed “the Chair” in question, Edinburgh lawyer Morag McNeil, for a further 18 months. Her term expired at the end of September and her reappointment has been back-dated.
Ms Hyslop’s letter to Mr Maclennan states: “The Chair’s recommendation was made fully in accordance with the Ethical Standards Commissioner’s Code of Practice for Ministerial Appointments to Public Bodies in Scotland. The Code makes clear that reappointment is not automatic”.
She continues: “Should you wish to pursue any concerns regarding the Chair’s recommendation, or the basis on which it was made, you should direct these to the Chair of CMAL. We have nothing further to add and consider this matter resolved”.
Labour candidate in the Western Isles, Donald Mackinnon, who wrote to Ms Hyslop asking for an explanation of Mr Maclennan’s non-reappointment, has received a reply in similar terms.
Mr Mackinnon said: “That the recommendation of the Chair is followed without question or scrutiny makes a mockery of the public appointments process and appears contrary to what is outlined in the Code of Practice which puts ultimate responsibility on Scottish Ministers”.
Mrs McNeil – an Edinburgh lawyer with no connection to the islands other than her quango role - faced criticism after she reversed her earlier recommendation that Mr Maclennan should be reappointed for a second term.
Mr Maclennan’s offence had been to co-sign a letter with Uisdean Robertson, chairman of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar’s transportation committee, pressing for Gaelic-speaking islanders to formally launch the ferries being built in Turkey for the Uig-Tarbert-Lochmaddy routes.
This was opposed by CMAL and Transport Scotland hierarchies who wanted the honour to be given to senior Scottish Government civil servants who were closely involved in the ferries debacle of recent years, Frances Pacitti and Alison Irvine.
In 2022, Ms Pacitti chaired an appointments panel which made the shock recommendation that Erik Østergaard, previously chair of CMAL, should become chair of CalMac, clearing the way for Mrs McNeil to be upgraded to the CMAL chair.
Mrs McNeil joined the CMAL board in 2014, at the same time Østergaard became the quango’s chair, and both were deeply involved in the order for two ferries from the Ferguson yard in Port Glasgow which are now set to cost half a billion pounds.
However, she and Østergaard – both unknown in the islands - have been kept inside the Scottish Government loop through repeated quango reappointments.