Councillor asks: ‘Should college board meeting go ahead?’

Alastair Cooper.

A college board meeting will go ahead this week, despite questions from one elected member around whether it should be held at all.

The point has been raised by Alastair Cooper following the long-anticipated merger between Shetland College, Train Shetland and NAFC.

But the North Mainland councillor has been told the board will “no longer be required” once a “lessons learned” exercise has been carried out.

The merger has taken years to go through, but a report due to go before members states that all the work for the 1st August transfer was completed on time.

“Why are we having a college board [meeting] when the business has transferred to a new body?” Mr Cooper asked.

“Am I right in saying the board has no direct locus in the business of that body, or is this the last meeting in order to conclude the council business?”

The report, by director of corporate services Christine Ferguson, states that the college merger project will now “wind down” with a final report prepared following a review of the merger and a “lessons learned” exercise.

“It is proposed that this report is presented to a future meeting of the college board with the expectation that the college board will no longer be required thereafter, and that the council’s scheme of administration and delegation will be updated accordingly,” she stated.

Responding directly to Mr Cooper’s questions, Ms Ferguson said: “I have had a number of discussions about this and, given that the college board remit includes monitoring and providing assurance regarding financial management and service delivery and supporting the college merger, in my view, it is appropriate to report to the college board with regard to the completion of the merger.”

She added the “lessons learned” exercise would usefully be reported to the college board “for their input/views”.

But she said there would be no further meetings of the College Lecturers’ Joint Consultative Committee.