Inquiry into how taxpayers' money was swallowed by clan gathering

Published on Monday 26 October 2009 21:09

A MAJOR inquiry is to be carried out into the staging of a huge clan gathering in Edinburgh that ran up losses of more than £600,000, The Scotsman can reveal.

City council officials are to be asked to investigate how The Gathering event in Edinburgh made such a huge loss when it received 500,000 in public funding.

Senior figures at the local authority and its cash-strapped marketing body will also be asked to justify moves to revive the event – said to have generated more than 10 million for Scotland's economy – when a further 300,000 of public money has had to be written off.

Councillors say there are also unanswered questions over how the new Destination Edinburgh Marketing Alliance (DEMA), which has inherited some 300,000 of private-sector debts under a deal with the council and the Scottish Government, will be able to settle them.

MSPs are also arguing for the Auditor General to mount a formal investigation into the running of what was billed as the centrepiece event of the government's "Year of Homecoming" celebrations.

But it is thought the council and its marketing body may now insist that the Scottish Government takes responsibility for explaining what went wrong.

The Scotsman has been told of mounting concerns over the viability of a rescue package for The Gathering which prevented the company running the event – headed by Tory peer Lord Jamie Sempill – from going into liquidation.

A number of public bodies, including Historic Scotland, Lothian and Borders Police and the Scottish Ambulance Service, have already agreed to write off some 120,000 of debts.

Council leader Jenny Dawe will be asked to provide a full update for councillors within the next few weeks.

Labour councillor Paul Godzik said: "This event received nearly half a million pounds in public funds, and has left the public purse carrying the can for an additional 600,000. People deserve answers on what went wrong, and clarity on who is now picking up the bill.

"There are a number of unanswered questions, and issues over both transparency and accountability. DEMA's funding comes almost exclusively from the council and, as such, councillors have a responsibility to ask how money is spent, and how decisions have been reached."

Tory councillor Gordon Buchan said: "We have to have a full explanation of why there were such huge cost over-runs for this event and we need firm guarantees that this is not going to happen again if it is going to be revived by DEMA and there is taxpayers' money involved."

Labour's Edinburgh Central MSP Sarah Boyack said: "The fact that DEMA has already made a loss of nearly 300,000 calls into question its ability to function while saddled with the debt incurred by The Gathering."

Councillor Dawe could not be contacted by The Scotsman yesterday. But a council spokesman said the authority did not want to comment further.

The Scottish Government insists DEMA is now responsible for drawing up a future business plan for The Gathering and meeting its private-sector obligations.