Alex Salmond gets free hand to appoint his own advisers

Published on Wednesday 13 January 2010 18:38

FIRST Minister Alex Salmond is to have a free hand in the number of politically-appointed government advisers he can make.

The move to remove the cap on appointments was met with concerns yesterday by former Labour leader Wendy Alexander, who said that special advisers employed by the SNP administration were "overly concentrated" on the media.

Measures in the UK Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill would lift the limit of 12 special advisers that the First Minister can appoint, energy minister Jim Mather said yesterday.

Scottish Government official Margaret Coutts said the First Minister would have a duty to prepare an annual report on the costs associated with special advisers and to lay this before parliament, but Ms Alexander said this would leave the parliament with "no power of any kind" to influence the number of advisers taken on.

"It doesn't allow for parliament to have any formal role in deciding what might be the best or appropriate number," she said.

The SNP administration employs ten special advisers and Mr Mather said he was not aware of any plans to increase this.