Glasgow City College spent £14k on Tartan Week – including a limousine trip – while staff at home were refused PPE

City of Glasgow College spent almost £14k on a trip to Tartan Week in New York despite insisting it could not pay for health and safety measures at one of its flagship  campuses, according to union reps. 

Expenses for the staff jaunt to the United States included a one way trip to the State University of New York (SUNY) in a limousine costing nearly £700 and almost £2,000 for a supper club event with the American Scottish Foundation. 

The college’s costs for Tartan Week in New York – an annual event which celebrates links between Scotland and the US – were released under freedom of information legislation.They reveal the college – which received £67,000 of public funding last year – spent £13,783 on the trip for three senior staff, including its principal and chief executive, Paul Little.

The breakdown included flights priced at over £1,250 per head and hotel accommodation at Manhattan's Hyatt Grand Central hotel, costing over £4,000. While there, the college signed an agreement of international collaboration with SUNY Maritime College, which it hopes will support future exchanges and educational opportunities. 

Glasgow City College said the travel costs represented "a very modest investment in support of that wider economic and educational return". 

"With a backdrop of repeated redundancy processes in recent years, it’s downright galling for staff to see these kinds of costs being racked up on international travel." [Ross Greer, Scottish Greens]

It also accused union officials of "deliberately conflating two entirely separate issues" insisting concerns raised over protective equipment had been "fully addressed" with required actions implemented.  

However the EIS union, which remains in dispute with the college over demands to issue personal protective equipment to lecturers in the welding department at the Riverside campus, said the costs suggested that the college “prioritised comfortable trips” over “reasonable health and safety protections”.

Staff from the college’s welding and fabrication department went on strike earlier this year, claiming they were being forced to undertake hazardous activities, including being exposed to known carcinogens, without high quality safety equipment. Glasgow City College insists it is fully compliant with health and safety issues.

An emergency motion on the issue was called at the STUC conference in April with union representatives claiming college management had adopted a “belligerent attitude” and was treating “valuable employees with apparent disdain”. 

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The co-leader of the Scottish Greens also called on the college’s board to review its expenses policy, claiming that if it failed to do so, the Scottish Government should step in via the Funding Council. The Scottish Funding Council is the quango responsible for funding Scotland's further and higher education institutions, including its 26 colleges and 19 universities.

In March this year the issue of staff expenses was flagged by Audit Scotland. Its report on the college’s accounts claims that due to a lack of consistent policies, "the college may not be consistently achieving best value in how staff expenses are managed". It recommended this was reviewed "to ensure all claims are reasonable, necessary, and aligned with the college’s financial priorities". 

The college said all spending was "subject to established governance, approval, procurement, and audit processes" and claimed it was continuing to "review and strengthen its governance arrangements in line with all relevant recommendations". 

Justifying expense

Glasgow City Council officials have previously been subject to criticism for their attendance at Tartan Week. In November the local authority approved the Lord Provost's own five-day trip, at a cost of £1,500 backed by the council’s city administration committee, which provides financial oversight.

However critics claimed the college's three-person trip cost – which cost nearly nearly ten times as much – was not subject to a similar approval process, nor publicly documented.

A spokesman for the EIS teachers’ union said the principal and board of City of Glasgow College should have to justify the “significant spending” and evidence how costs were in line with “any broader benefit accrued to the organisation”. 

“On the face of it, the cost of sending the principal and two senior colleagues to New York of around £14,000, is more than it would cost to provide the personal protective equipment that lecturers need to protect their health and wellbeing,” they added. 

“That the college seemingly chooses to prioritise comfortable trips, accommodation and high-end food for senior staff over reasonable health and safety protections for lecturers and students is certainly a decision that should be subject to public scrutiny.”

Glasgow City College was previously subject to criticism in 2023 when it emerged it had spent almost £1m on PR, marketing and public affairs despite 100 staff being threatened with redundancy due to cuts. 

In its most recent accounts it highlighted Audit Scotland research, warnings that many colleges are at risk of becoming unsustainable, with 92 percent forecasting a deficit budget this year. To improve its financial position, the college said, it had "maintained its programme of cost-reducing and income-generating initiatives".

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Scottish Greens co-leader Ross Greer said he had worked with unions to raise concerns about the college’s travel and expenses policies for years, adding: “it just doesn’t feel like senior management are listening”. 

“With a backdrop of repeated redundancy processes in recent years, it’s downright galling for staff to see these kinds of costs being racked up on international travel,” he added. “There will be a particular sting here for the welding lecturers currently taking industrial action over the lack of personal safety equipment in their department.

“Colleges are public bodies, funded by public money. They must be accountable. No-one is suggesting a ban on travel, but there needs to be a clear value-for-money test.”

A spokesperson for Glasgow City College said: "The visit to Tartan Week formed part of that wider strategic international engagement programme and was undertaken to strengthen relationships with key partners and stakeholders in areas including maritime, education, skills, and investment.  

"During this mission, we signed a new partnership with the State University of New York Maritime College [which] will support collaboration between the two institutions, including student and staff exchanges, and the sharing of best practice, reflecting the global demand for maritime skills."

On the health and safety issue it confirmed the college is "continuing constructive discussions" with union reps "to resolve what we regard as unnecessary and unwarranted local industrial action."