News / Retiring Sir John fears trust takeover
ON THURSDAY Shetland’s former Lord Lieutenant hung up his spurs with Shetland Charitable Trust on the eve of his 75th birthday.
As he did so, Sir John Scott aired his disappointment that he had not remained long enough to see the £200 million charity – one of Scotland’s largest – shed council control.
He also warned that if trustees continue to defy the charity regulator OSCR with talk of an “irrelevant” referendum, control will be taken out of their hands.
He believes the trust must become more independent of the SIC, not just to adhere to the law, but to freshen up its outlook and introduce some new thinking to help the islands as a whole and not just the local authority.
Yet he does remain pleased with the organisation’s progress in learning to live within its means, saying that when he joined in 1994 trustees acted as if there was no tomorrow.
At Thursday’s meeting, chairman Bill Manson paid tribute to the “assiduous manner” in which Sir John had performed on the board.
He has been instrumental in driving forward many changes, notably the cut back in spending from £15 million to £11 million a year and the painfully slow attempt to remove council domination.
He was an active member of the working group on reform whose proposals on an independently controlled trust were dismissed in September before they had even been debated, when trustees opted to hold a referendum instead.
Sir John told Shetland News he was disappointed the trust had not reformed itself before he left.
“The idea of a referendum is a complete red herring because the trust has to reform itself to come in line with charities law in Scotland.
“It cannot go on not obeying that law. There is a group of trustees who are basically trying to face down OSCR. It cannot go on for much longer.
“Regardless of whether (the referendum) happens or not, it is not going to affect the issue. The issue is whether OSCR is going to insist that the law is adhered to in Shetland.
“I think they will have to do that before the summer because you cannot have a large charity in Scotland not adhering to the Charities Act.”
Reflecting on the last 17 years, Sir John said the trust was now much more efficiently administered and living within its means, but called for a fresh approach to funding.
“When I first came on to the trust we were still in a phase when Shetland believed there would be no tomorrow, could spend as much money as we liked and the consequences would never catch up with us.
“I am very happy that things are on a better financial footing now. I think however that there has been, because of the financial constraints, a tendency to just go on funding the same things with no new application being considered. I would like to see that changed in the next years.”
Once the majority of councillors are removed, he believes the trust will become more focussed on what is good for the whole of Shetland and not just the local authority.
“The trust needs to take a fresh look at what’s the point of it and what could be funded by other means. That would free up some spending power which could be used for new applications to the charitable trust.
“But I think that can only happen if the trust is reformed and is no longer dominated by councillors. The problem about councillors as the dominant force is that they are inevitably looking at their electorate and what is popular with them.
“The trust has to become a bit more independent and consider what is best for Shetland rather than what is good for individual groups of electors. I believe an independent trust would operate more sensibly in the long-term for the benefit of Shetland.”
Newly appointed Lord Lieutenant Bobby Hunter will take over the seat Sir John is vacating, joining Anderson High School head teacher Valerie Nicolson as the only two independent trustees.
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