News / Tavish: SCT must maintain democratic link
SHETLAND MSP Tavish Scott says he would prefer Shetland Islands Council to continue to have a stake in Shetland Charitable Trust (SCT).
Should the next council uphold the current administration’s decision not to send any elected members to serve as trustees, however, the Liberal Democrat politician would favour direct election of some trustees.
“Council trustees are one way to ensure democratic accountability. At the moment the only other way seems to be direct elections, but I think that’s got some downsides to it,” Scott said.
His comments came after the Association of Shetland Community Council (ASCC) reaffirmed its view that all trustees of the £240 million organisation should be directly elected by the local population.
The MSP was speaking to Shetland News after some local pressure for him to make his views known on the trust’s governance.
The charitable trust is currently run by a board comprising seven councillor-trustees and eight appointed members.
Following changes to trust’s setup, the number of councillor-trustees will be reduced to four as of June next year. As it stands, the SIC will not appoint any councillors to take up those seats.
Critics have been warning for some time that the trust faces losing its democratic accountability.
Promoting radical change, campaigner Peter Hamilton has said it is in danger of becoming an “unaccountable quango” and is proposing a board of 12 elected and three appointed trustees.
Meanwhile, trust vice-chairman, councillor Jonathan Wills, favours a 15-strong trust comprising of eight elected and seven appointed trustees.
SCT chairman Bobby Hunter is on record saying that the issue of representation would “evolve” over time.
Scott has now added his voice to the debate – in favour of council representation rather than direct elections.
“Shetland needs to identify the most appropriate way to ensure that our democratic elected council has a transparent and proper relationship with the charitable trust, which is a really important body in funding organisations across the islands,” he said.
“Both organisations should be working in tandem for the benefit of the people of Shetland.”
He said he would like to see the new council, to be elected in May next year, to reconsider the decision not to appoint any councillors as trustees, as separate elections for the trust would create confusion among the local electorate.
“I think it is worthy of a new council to give this some thought. If they choose to uphold the current position, it takes us into a situation where we got to look at some of the trustees being elected,” he said.
“Otherwise I don’t see how the trust can be accountable to the people of Shetland. A mix of elected and appointed members would be a reasonable way to do that. They need a balanced board.”
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