'Inappropriate' bonus for Scottish Enterprise chief comes under fire

Published on Thursday 6 August 2009 21:28

CALLS for the chief executive of Scottish Enterprise to be denied an "inappropriate" bonus were made last night as the quango unveiled details of increased pay for its board in its annual accounts.

A proposed 18,000 performance bonus for Jack Perry, who in May announced his resignation, is under review by the Scottish Government, as are all bonuses for chief executives of quangos.

Hugh Hall, chief financial officer at the agency, denied the delay over the chief executive's bonus was political, but confirmed that the payout was "not completely certain". The Scottish Government refused to disclose when it would make a decision on bonuses.

Liberal Democrat finance spokesman Jeremy Purvis said it would be "outrageous" to pay a bonus that would raise Perry's pay to 231,000 a year.

The previous year, when SE still oversaw Careers Scotland, his remuneration was 225,000. Since then the quango has been slimmed down and its budget cut more than 40 per cent after the Scottish Government transferred management of the skills body to another quango, Skills Development Scotland.

Purvis demanded that the government "come clean" about paying bonuses.

"They spend all their time attacking Westminster for banking bonuses, while trying to avoid their responsibility on quango bonuses," he said. "I had to drag an admission from the Scottish Government that it was inappropriate that the Scottish Enterprise chief executive's pay remained intact despite the organisation being almost halved.

"It would be utterly outrageous if any government quango chief is paid a bonus in the current economic climate."

While a question-mark hangs over Perry's bonus, other members of the Scottish Enterprise board were awarded performance bonuses, although these were slightly below the 10 per cent limit. Hall received 11,000 in addition to his 143,000 salary.

Chief operating officer Lena Wilson got a 14,000 bonus on top of her salary of 176,000. Her salary grew 10,000 from last year though this reflects her taking on a permanent role as head of the Scottish Government's inward investment agency, Scottish Development International.

Perry and chairman Crawford Gillies were said to be on holiday.

Scottish Enterprise reported a 56m loss, after a 67.5m gain the previous year.

Hall said the loss was due to "accounting issues" including a 60m write-down on the value of land and property and an estimated 6m shortfall in the fully-funded pension scheme.

Nevertheless the agency boasted it had met all its targets bar two.