£1.2m of Glasgow Games cash spent

Published on Saturday 26 December 2009 19:27

MORE than £1.2 million has been spent on Glasgow's Commonwealth Games scheduled for 2014 – and the winners so far are the consultants and PR firms.

Figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats show Glasgow City Council and the Scottish Government have each spent about 600,000 on consultants and managers. The details were obtained under Freedom of Information laws.

The Scottish Government, Glasgow City Council and the Games Organising Committee announced last month that they had to plug an 80m gap caused by an increase in broadcasting and staff costs, taking the overall cost to around 450m,

with 59m being met by the Scottish Government, 9m from Glasgow City Council and 13m from the Organising Committee.

The announcement followed a budget review by the Organising Committee who put the cost at 373m.

Lib Dem sports spokesman Ross Finnie said yesterday: "The Commonwealth Games will be a spectacular occasion and we hope that they leave a lasting legacy for Scotland.

"But history tells us that the budgets for staging massive international sport events will soar unless every aspect of expenditure is rigorously controlled."

He added: "That's an awful lot of taxpayers money in these tough times. So its absolutely vital that the Scottish Government and Glasgow City Council keep on top of every pound that is spent.

"Blowing over 1.2m on consultants and PR in the first two years isn't a good sign that ministers and councillors are focusing on the essentials and getting their spending priorities."

Glasgow beat Nigerian capital Abuja in 2007 in the race to host the event, which will be held over 11 days starting in July 2014.

Thousands of athletes and officials will stay in an athletes' village in the East End of the city, which is also to be home to a new national indoor sports arena and velodrome.