The Scottish Conservatives have said SNP spending on private consultants appears “out of control” after figures showed it had doubled over the last five years.
Data from a Freedom of Information response to the Scottish Tories showed that spending on such consultants increased from almost £21.3 million in 2018/19 to nearly £42.3 million in 2022/23.
The figures show that £158.6 million had been spent on private consultants since 2018/19.
Scottish Conservative deputy leader Rachael Hamilton said taxpayers would question whether it was value for money.
“If there’s a way to waste taxpayers’ money, the SNP will manage it.
“We know the SNP don’t get much right on their own, but the solution isn’t to throw more and more taxpayers’ money at highly-paid consultants.
“The public will rightly question if spending £160 million on outside help is good value for taxpayers when that cash could have been used to improve public services or reduce taxes.
“Reckless use of taxpayers’ money is driving the disconnect between the public and politicians.
“It’s causing people to lose trust in politics and feel that the Scottish Parliament just doesn’t get it.
“We’re determined to do things differently and, going forward, we have committed to making sure that taxpayers’ money is always spent effectively and efficiently.”
READ MORE:
- Plan to ban MPs and MSPs 'double jobbing' after party rows
- Alex Salmond’s funeral to take place in Aberdeenshire
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Scottish Government may undertake procurement of consultants if in-house resources are unavailable, or if specialist skills are needed.
“All spend is carefully considered to ensure value for money for the people of Scotland.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel