MINISTERS have been accused of "lax oversight" after it emerged that 14 college principals shared nearly £2.4 million in pay-outs under a controversial national merger scheme.
The attack came after new figures highlighted the scale of the payments - the largest of which was £315,000 awarded to Ronnie Knox, the former principal of North Glasgow College, under a deal already questioned by public spending watchdog Audit Scotland.
John Doyle, the former principal of Coatbridge College, received the next highest payment of £304,000 - a package which is currently under scrutiny from Holyrood's public audit committee following concerns of poor governance.


Tavish Scott, education spokesman for the Scottish Liberal Democrats, raised concerns over ministers’ awareness of the scale of severance payments.
He said: "These payouts symbolise just how badly the merger process was planned and scrutinised by the Scottish Government.
"It is incredibly concerning that the Cabinet Secretary has admitted there would have been regular contact between her, her predecessor and the Scottish Funding Council, but that concerns over the scale of these payouts were not raised sooner.

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