MSPs display anger at £56k bill for Holyrood exhibition

Published on Tuesday 20 May 2008 10:21

SCOTTISH Parliament bosses have spent more than £50,000 on revamping the exhibition in the public entrance foyer of the Holyrood building.

New features include a new touch-screen display, audio commentary, a model of the chamber and better access for children and wheelchair users.

But MSPs have questioned why such a large amount of money should be spent updating the exhibition just three and a half years after the parliament opened.

The exhibition, which charts the history of the parliament and explains how it works, can be seen by anyone visiting the parliament.

Consultants forecast in 2002 the parliament building would attract up to 700,000 visitors a year in the first three years.

But official figures show there were 371,755 visitors in 2005-6, the first full financial year at Holyrood, 317,755 in 2006-7 and 345,802 in 2007-8.

The revamp, which has re-used glass display cases from the original exhibition, was carried out under a 56,000 contract which also covers maintenance if necessary.

But senior SNP backbencher Alex Neil said: "I don't see what was wrong with what was there before. It had only been in since the parliament opened. Why the rush to change it beats me.

"There are many other things which are a much higher priority for spending money on.

"The parliament's IT system, for instance, gets more shambolic almost every day."

Lothians Tory MSP Gavin Brown was also shocked by the cost of the exhibition revamp. "It does sound a huge amount of money," he said.

"First impressions are important, but it would be useful to know how many repeat visitors we are getting.

"It seems to me a lot of people would visit the parliament once and probably not again for a while. If a restaurant has a lot of customers who keep coming back, it has to refresh the menu.

"We need to keep the exhibition fresh, but we don't need to spend vast sums on it and if most people are seeing it for the first time, the original exhibition would be perfectly valid."

However, the parliament defended the decision to "refresh" the exhibition.

A spokeswoman said: "Since opening to the public more than three and a half years ago, the parliament has welcomed in excess of 1.5 million visitors, the majority of which are residents of Scotland. Visitors want to learn more about the parliament and the exhibition plays an important part in achieving this.

"Naturally, after an election we need to replace some of the material in our exhibition. In doing so we have taken the opportunity to refresh the existing exhibition, making improvements in line with feedback we have received from the public.

"The 56,000 contract includes the design, manufacture and installation of all of the elements within the new display, including the interactive plasma screen, audio units, etc."