'The Care Inspectorate and my New Role', Annette Bruton

Our guest speaker was

ANNETTE  BRUTON

FORMER CHIEF EXECUTIVE CARE INSPECTORATE SCOTLAND

PRINCIPAL, EDINBURGH COLLEGE

Annette  addressed the Club with a fascinating overview of the responsibilities of two major public services, Care Inspectorate Scotland and the recently created Edinburgh College.

East Lothian born Annette has recently been appointed Principal of Edinburgh College, Scotland’s largest Further Education College formed by merging Stevenson, Jewel & Esk and Telford Colleges. Annette has extensive experience and expertise in education, originally training and working as a geography teacher and later moving into learning support and special educational needs. She joined HM Inspectorate of Education in 2001 and was one of six inspectors of education. In 2009 she took up the role of Director of Education, Culture and Sport at Aberdeen City Council before being appointed  Chief Executive of Care Inspectorate Scotland  in 2012.

Care Inspectorate Scotland, created by merging three former inspection bodies, has responsibility for the inspection and regulation of some 15,000 care services in Scotland including Nurseries, Housing Support Services, Prison Services, Care Homes, Mental Health Services and many other situations where care services are provided to individuals either by the public or private sectors.

Annette explained that 85% of the care services inspected in Scotland were either 'very good' or 'good'. The Care Inspectorate has 600 staff of whom 300 are inspectors, operates out of 16 offices across Scotland and welcomes applications from 'lay inspectors' from bodies such as Rotary to give a community view to the assessment of care services.

Annette moved on to outline her new role as Principal of the Edinburgh College and the challenges involved in merging three colleges with historic and cultural differences into one coherent body. The new college has 22,000 students, 60% of whom are from overseas, a budget of £64,0000 p.a. and provides courses in Construction, Electrical Engineering, Catering, Languages, Oil and Gas Services, Design, Hair and Beauty and Computing. The College is pioneering  composite courses involving 50% of the degree at college and 50% at university.

Annette said her targets for the College are to  increase the community use of the extensive facilities and to increase student numbers to 25,000/26,000. She sees a lack of funding of courses for apprentices as a factor potentially holding back the economy of the region.           

Ian Clarkson gave Annette the Club’s vote of thanks.

Report by Jim Douglas