News / Eight new independent trustees appointed
NHS SHETLAND, the voluntary sector, social services and the maritime industry are all to be represented on the new look Shetland Charitable Trust.
On Thursday eight new independent trustees were chosen from 32 applicants to join seven local councillors who will lead the £200 million charity into a new era of separation from the local authority.
Three of the new independent trustees have health board connections, including current chairman Ian Kinniburgh, vice chairman Keith Massey, and former chairwoman Betty Fullerton who is currently a non executive director of the board of NHS Scotland.
Other new trustees include Voluntary Action Shetland executive officer Catherine Hughson; children’s reporter Stephen Morgan; NAFC Marine Centre policy advisor Ian Napier; Lord Lieutenant Bobby Hunter and chartered engineer Jim Smith who currently chairs social enterprise COPE Ltd and the Sumburgh Airport Consultative Committee.
The new independent trustees will outnumber the seven councillors whose appointment was ratified on Thursday: Malcolm Bell, Peter Campbell, Robert Henderson, Andrea Manson, Crew Ratter, George Smith and Jonathan Wills.
Bell and Ratter are also non executive members of the Shetland health board.
The eight new trustees were chosen by a three person panel chaired by Scotland former Commissioner for Public Appointments, Dr Karen Carlton.
A new trust chairperson will be appointed from eight independents and the organisation’s new format will be independently reviewed after three years.
The new structure was agreed after Scottish charity regulator OSCR threatened to take over the running of the trust when it delayed watering down council control of the organisation, which spends around £10 million a year supporting welfare and leisure activities in the isles.
Current chairman Drew Ratter said he had confidence in the new board of trustees being able to run the organisation and handle any issues of conflict of interest, which underlay the need for reform in the first place.
“As local authorities decline, as I think they are, the fact that we have a public organisation like this to take part in community planning is a wonderful thing for Shetland and I am hoping these people will make sure that it is well run,” Ratter said.
The charitable trust was created in 1976 with cash derived from the oil industry at Sullom Voe terminal, with £170 million invested on the global financial markets and £30 million in the local economy. It is one of the largest charities in Scotland.
The trust has a 45 per cent stake in the planned Viking Energy wind farm, from which it hopes to receive a dividend of £23 million a year. It also owns the property business SLAP and the Lerwick district heating scheme.
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