A Fife college at the centre of bullying and mismanagement allegations has said it is making ”significant progress” towards improvements demanded by the Scottish Funding Council.
The SFC made 26 recommendations for action at Adam Smith College, which was plunged into crisis at the start of the year.
The most serious of those centred on claims of bullying and intimidation by staff and misuse of college funds and further investigations were launched to ascertain whether disciplinary action should be taken against senior staff members.
College principal Ian Harrington said he is happy with the pace of the progress being made.
However, Kirkcaldy MSP David Torrance told The Courier there are still a number of unanswered questions surrounding the fate of three executive directors and allegations of financial irregularities.
Linda Thomson, Christine Sinclair and Sandra Rhodes were on leave during the SFC probe and have still not returned to their desks.
”I want to see how that will be dealt with,” said Mr Torrance. ”I also want to see the outcomes of inquiries into the allegations of financial irregularities at the college published. That investigation should have come to an end by now and I hope the board are going to publish them in detail.”
He added: ”Having said that, things seem to be moving in the right direction and I hope they continue to do so.”
In a statement released to The Courier, Mr Harrington said: ”Significant progress has been made by the college to work through and implement the Scottish Funding Council’s recommendations in line with our own college processes.
“We are happy this is moving along at a pace enabling us to fully engage with our staff and students. It is very much business as usual; our staff are busy supporting our students in the completion of their studies for this year.
”We are also seeing a rise in applications and we are preparing to welcome those keen to join us after the summer break.”
* We have been asked to make clear that Christine Sinclair was not subject to any allegations relating to financial mismanagement. We are also happy to clarify that the SFC investigation was into the whole college, not just selected staff.