Quangos are just “too complex” for islanders

The chief executive of Transport Scotland, Alison Irvine, suggested to MSPs on Holyrood’s Transport Committee that the roles are too “complex” for islanders who have repeatedly failed to be appointed

Her comments were described by isles MSP, Donald Mackinnon, as “deeply patronising” while committee chairman, Willie Rennie MSP, said it was “unbelievable” that not a single islander could be found.

Ms Irvine – who has held senior roles in Transport Scotland for 18 years - wondered: “The criteria we use – are they too stretching for people?” before suggesting specifically that “islanders” might benefit from “effectively, a mentoring and training programme to make them board ready”.

She added: “The thing I would say is that we need these boards to fulfil some quite serious commitments around running what is a quite complex, highly regulated sector so we are always looking for a broad range of skills”.

Ms Irvine was appearing in connection with the committee's investigation into Highlands and Islands air services. It was pointed out by previous witnesses that no member of the HIAL board is resident in the entire region – as has been the case for at least a decade.

Mr Rennie told her: “It is difficult to believe that for years and with numerous rounds of appointments to the HIAL board there is no person in any island who is up to the job. I cannot believe that these islands are uniquely absent of that talent”.

Ms Irvine insisted that community input was “front and centre of Ministers’ concerns”.

She added: The roles are advertised as widely as they possibly can be. They go through the Public Appointments process. We put an appropriate emphasis on community voice and community membership, yet we have been unsuccessful. We have similar challenges in the ferry space”.

Stuart Strachan, head of aviation in Transport Scotland, claimed they had “reached out to networks to get as many interested candidates come forward as possible. Lived experiences were directly addressed as part of that process.”

​However, Mr Rennie pointed out that the reality lay in outcomes – of islanders repeatedly failing to be appointed.

This week, Mr Mackinnon said: “The position of the Scottish Government appears to be that no islanders are up to the job of taking seats on the boards of HIAL and CMAL.

“The deeply patronising suggestion that a mentoring scheme for islanders is in order only rubs salt in the wound.

“The reality is that there are many islanders out there with the skills and experience to take on these roles yet islanders remain absent from the boards in question. There is something clearly wrong with the public appointments process which repeatedly fails to recognise the communities have to live with the consequences of decisions taken by these boards”.

The current board of HIAL is chaired by a Yorkshire-based aviation consultant and the other Ministerial appointees are an Edinburgh accountant and the “co-founder of a real estate financing platform based in Madrid”.

There is no islander on the CMAL board since the removal of Murdo Maclennan after he stood up for island interests in a dispute with the Edinburgh lawyer who chairs the board.

There was no islander on the CalMac board throughout the ongoing debacle until a woman resident on Eigg was appointed last year.

EDITORIAL:​​ Three minutes of loose talk by a civil servant can reveal more than years of weasel words from Ministers and official spokespersons. This was the achievement of Alison Irvine, chief executive of Transport Scotland.

Asked to explain the absence of anyone resident in the Highlands and Islands from the board of Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd for at least a decade, Ms Irvine mused that “islanders” – quite specifically – might require “mentoring and training” to make them “board ready” for these “complex” roles.

If this generalisation was applied to any other group in society, ethnic or otherwise, there would (rightly) have been protests about its discriminatory implication. So let Ms Irvine be in no doubt – the reputation of “islanders” must also be protected from prejudice and ignorance.

Ms Irvine’s own appearance before the Transport Committee might generously be described as dismal and ill-informed. Despite her lofty title, she seemed badly in need of “mentoring and training”.

Yet this person has been at the heart of Transport Scotland for 18 years, with strong influence over ferries policy for most of that time.

Throughout that period of catastrophic policy failure, well qualified “islanders” have been systematically excluded from boards of quangos which – alongside Transport Scotland – made or endorsed disastrous decisions which continue to cause damage to islands and islanders.

From Unst to Islay, from the Butt to Barra, the islands produce leaders of quality who have run successful businesses and held senior positions in public office. They produce people who possess knowledge, understanding and empathy for island needs. That is the qualification Ms Irvine and her ilk patronise, fear and consistently exclude.

It is not “islanders” who need “mentoring and training” but the disinterested duds who shuffle around Scotland’s quango system, with the sole necessary qualification of offering no challenge to Ministers – or, indeed, to the likes of Ms Irvine.

The boards of HIAL, CMAL and CalMac (and quite a few others) are testimony to that longstanding policy of discrimination and exclusion on the part of Scottish Government Ministers and officials. So too are the consequences.