Storm over £270,000 pay-off for official

Published on 18/01/2009 21:04

HOLYROOD managers faced calls last night for an emergency statement on the way the parliament is run, after it emerged that a senior official will walk away with a redundancy package of up to £270,000 as a result of a job-loss plan she was involved in drawing up.

As director of the parliament's "change programme", Carol Devon helped come up with proposals for a reduction in the number of parliamentary directors from five to four.

After the plan was accepted, she successfully applied for redundancy and will receive an expected 270,000 package.

A Scottish Parliament spokesman said the decision to reduce the number of directors was taken by the parliament's corporate body and existing directors had no say in that decision.

He said: "Mrs Devon had no say whatsoever on the terms of her early severance package. That is set by the Department of Work and Pensions."

But the SNP MSP Alex Neil said: "There needs to be an emergency statement by the Presiding Officer to tell MSPs what the hell is going on in our own parliament, as people will be outraged."

In October 2007, a scandal broke over the 149,000 "golden handshake" of the former chief executive of East Lothian Council, John Lindsay.

He eventually retired without receiving the package.