Who foots bill?

Published on 24/12/2012 00:00

So, THE Scottish Conservatives have established that Scottish councils spent nearly £150 million (actually £145.7m) using credit cards (your report, 21 December). As David O’Neill, of council umbrella body Cosla, said: “I do not see the point the Conservatives are trying to make.” One wonders if the Conservatives know what it is.

They are seeing the year out in the same way that they started it. In January, the Tories revealed that Scottish councils spent £2m (actually £1.7m) on pothole compensation claims. A shocking headline, but this was the total amount spent by the 32 councils since 2006. On average, this is less than £11,000 a year for each council, or £900 per month.

These figures were not obtained by extensive research by party workers but by the simple expedient of submitting an inquiry under the Freedom of Information Act, so the councils carried the expense of preparing the information. I hesitate to ask the Conservatives how much public funding has been spent in this way, as they would doubtless submit yet another FoI inquiry to find out.

Douglas Kent

Stanley

Perthshire