Ministers urged to step in over Sick Kids cash

Published on Tuesday 2 February 2010 21:57

THE Scottish Government has been urged to intervene in a deepening crisis over the finances of a leading children's charity, after £500,000 was reportedly spent on a campaign said to have generated just £60,000.

• Former first minister Jack McConnell, right, and George Faulkes pose in pyjamas at the Scottish Parliament in support of the New Pyjamas Campaign.

Health chiefs are being urged to carry out a full investigation into the affairs of the Sick Kids Friends Foundation and its "New Pyjamas" fundraising drive, both run in aid of Edinburgh's Royal Hospital for Sick Children.

Politicians have warned that the foundation is facing a series of unanswered questions and have threatened to call in the police after the campaign director was suspended and its chairman resigned. The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator is now likely to be asked to investigate whether there has been any wrongdoing.

The body would not confirm if a probe was already under way last night.

NHS Lothian officials are holding crisis talks today with trustees over the future of the Sick Kids Friends Foundation (SKFF), which raises some 1.5 million a year, amid concerns that its long-term future has been thrown into doubt.

SKFF used its own reserves to fund the launch of New Pyjamas, its biggest-ever campaign. It was aimed at securing 15m worth of specialist equipment and facilities for a new children's hospital, due to open in the Little France area in 2013.

But the foundation's trustees raised concerns within the past fortnight after discovering how much had been spent promoting the campaign, and how little of the pledged support had been banked.

There are now questions over the way that the appeal has been run.

A spokeswoman for health secretary Nicola Sturgeon said last night: "The Scottish Government has asked NHS Lothian to keep us fully up to date with the situation concerning the Sick Kids Friends Foundation.

"The SKFF is an independent charity and, as such, is subject to the scrutiny of the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator. We would be keen to be kept fully informed of any investigation that the charity regulator chooses to carry out."

The New Pyjamas appeal was led by campaign director Elaine McGonigle. She is understood to have been hired by the charity's long-time chairman, Graeme Millar. The New Pyjamas campaign is based in his office in the city.

Ms McGonigle has been suspended while Mr Millar has resigned as chair of the campaign and as a trustee of the charity. Ms McGonigle is understood to have begun her own legal proceedings.

Ten staff are understood to have been hired on two-year contracts to work on the campaign.

Ms McGonigle announced in November that the New Pyjamas campaign – which was backed by high-profile figures such as former first minister Jack McConnell – had raised more than 2.5m in pledges.

She hailed the public response as "overwhelming".

The mystery over the charity's financial affairs deepened last night when it suggested its campaign was on target and that some 5m had been pledged to date.

A spokesman for the foundation said: "We have begun an urgent review of key aspects of the fundraising campaign for the new hospital, following concerns that current income levels do not meet agreed targets.

"The foundation is committed to taking action to deliver a successful fundraising campaign that will benefit children throughout Scotland. We are working closely with NHS Lothian in moving forward."

Lothians Nationalist MSP Shirley-Anne Somerville plans to quiz Ms Sturgeon on the issue in the Scottish Parliament next week.

She said: "We urgently need more information about how the New Pyjamas campaign got to be in this position and how the situation can be retrieved.

"I want the government to ensure we get to the bottom of what has been wrong and ensure the NHS is made to keep on top of the situation.

"A major worry is the extent to which the campaign has drained money from the foundation – 500,000 is a huge sum for an organisation that generally raises around 1.5m per year. I am also concerned about the effect this episode might have on future donations."

Lothian MSP and former GP Ian McKee said: "We need answers on this urgently, and that's why I immediately wrote to Lothian Health Board and the Sick Kids Friends Foundation asking for clarifications.

"It's staggering to see such poor financial management in what is considered one of the best children's hospitals in the world. Depending on what they come up with, there may be a case for the police to be asked to investigate."

A spokeswoman for NHS Lothian said it was not up to the health board to investigate the foundation, saying it was the job of the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator.

A spokesman for the charity regulator said: "We would not confirm whether an individual charity is the subject of an ongoing investigation."

Controversy in the past of campaign's director

ELAINE McGonigle, 44, from Perthshire, is no stranger to controversy after launching a high-profile unfair dismissal case against St Andrews University.

A former events manager at the university, she accused then principal Dr Brian Lang of sexual harassment and bullying in 2001.

Dr Land had warned Mrs McGonigle he intended to sue her for defamation unless she withdrew her allegations.

Papers lodged with the tribunal on her behalf alleged that Dr Lang had a "distasteful and unwelcome" habit of stroking her back and that he had made lurid suggestions about her apparent lack of underwear.

However, the case was abandoned after lawyers for both parties announced a settlement had been reached.

Ms McGonigle later publicly withdrew the allegations.

She later held a job as UK director of the Princess Royal Trust for Carers and has also acted as a consultant to charities on strategy, philosophy and fundraising.

Her profile on the New Pyjamas campaign website states: "Elaine brings with her a breadth of knowledge and experience that ensures the campaign to raise funds for the new hospital is well planned, executed and profiled."

Ms McGonigle is said to have been suspended as director of the New Pyjamas campaign after leading figures in the Sick Kids Hospital's foundation raised concerns about her stewardship of the fundraising drive.

Although she was publicly quoted in November insisting that the campaign had to date raised more than 2.5 million, insiders at the charity said it became clear shortly after the turn of the year that only a fraction of that figure had actually been brought in.

One source at the foundation said: "There are huge concerns over the levels of expenditure which have been incurred. Spending seems to have been out of control and the campaign's ambitions appear to have been far too big. The campaign has generated a lot of publicity over the last year, with seemingly next to no return."

Another said: "There are serious questions over how this campaign has been handled by Elaine McGonigle. It appears to have been allowed to drift out of control almost from the off."