Fury over Transport Scotland's £1m PR bill

THE government agency which oversees transport policy in Scotland spent more than £1 million on public relations work in the last financial year, The Scotsman can reveal.

Transport Scotland spent almost half a million pounds employing external PR agencies to promote government plans for the new Forth crossing, the M74 extension and the Borders rail link. The agency also spent more than 557,000 in wages and other costs employing 11 in-house public relations staff, paying them an average salary of 35,000 a year. The total bill equates to a spend of 20,000 on public relations work for every week of the year, at a time when most private sector companies have been reining in spending. Transport Scotland's PR spend – both in-house and external – is distinct from its communications budget of 689,000. This is an additional pot of money that is used for advertising and computing costs. The scale of the figures has prompted questions from MSPs, who have asked whether 1m a year spent on PR represents value for money during a recession. Conservative transport spokesman Alex Johnstone said: "In these difficult economic times, we have to get value for taxpayers' money. This seems like an extraordinary amount to spend on public relations, especially with such a large in-house team as well. How can these figures be justified?" The Glasgow-based agency, which employs 350 people, is charged with ensuring that Scotland's trunk road and railway systems are managed efficiently, effectively and economically. The agency, which is accountable to the public through parliament and ministers, runs national concessionary travel schemes. It also oversees major new transport projects. Last year, it was embroiled in controversy when Guy Houston resigned as finance chief after a watchdog's report revealed he attended meetings about a 2.5 billion franchise deal – despite holding shares in First Group, which won the contract. The new figures, which cover 2008-9, show Transport Scotland paid three high-profile PR agencies a total of 480,000. The BIG Partnership was paid 328,000 to promote the Forth Replacement Crossing. SMARTS was given 66,000 for similar work on the M74 extension. And Weber Shandwick was given 86,000 to promote plans for the Borders rail link. Transport Scotland's in-house PR team consists of nine full-time employees plus two part-time. The total wages bill for the team in 2008-9 came to 352,718. In addition, there was an in-house budget of 205,000, which was used to pay for items such as photography services, printing/publication, promotional items, displays, branding, the website and filming. Transport Scotland said the external companies were hired to inform stakeholders about projects that the quango is associated with and distributed newsletters, information leaflets, reports, guides and a series of public information exhibitions. But Lib Dem finance spokesman Jeremy Purvis said: "Some of Transport Scotland's projects have been cancelled and others delayed. There is utter confusion as to the role of the Scottish Futures Trust and Transport Scotland. "So it is totally unacceptable that the SNP government and its quangos are spending fortunes on spin and PR while there are serious question marks over the delivery of projects." Mr Johnstone said his party took credit for a recent policy change which means that all spending of more than 25,000 – excluding salaries – will now be automatically published online. The public will also have a right to see all spending on communications and special advisers, advertising and sponsorship, and all overseas travel costs as well as all hospitality and entertainment payments. "This is a transparency revolution," he said. "It will transform the relationship between government, public bodies and the taxpayer who foots the bill. It should certainly give organisations food for thought before any profligate and unnecessary spending." Transport Scotland defended the amount it spent on communications and PR, saying that PR represented less than 0.01 per cent of its 2.084bn budget. A spokesman said the cash spent on PR covered the "agency's remit which includes the provision of the concessionary travel schemes, the maintenance and management of the national trunk road and motorway, rail investment including the ScotRail franchise and other rail infrastructure investments." The spokesman added: "This also includes support for the major transport infrastructure programme which includes the Forth replacement crossing project, the M74 completion project and the Borders rail link. A key part of this work is keeping people informed through a wide range of public information and engagement activities, which recently included a number of exhibitions about proposals for the Forth replacement crossing." On the use of external agencies, the spokesman said: "480,000 was spent on communications support for the major transport projects including the M74 completion project, the Forth replacement crossing and the Borders rail link project. "This work covers a broad range of communications such as public exhibitions and information and wider stakeholder engagement. This work is procured externally through the Scottish Government's approved marketing framework contract and the support requirement varies depending on the stage of the projects."