Scottish independence: Government papers costing taxpayers up to £10.85 per download

Campaign group Scotland In Union says Government ministers must justify spending so much on these papers, as figures reveal very few people are actually reading them

The Scottish Government’s independence papers are costing taxpayers’ up to £10.85 for every single person who reads them.

The first nine independence papers, which set out the Government’s vision for what an independent Scotland might look like, cost taxpayers £150,467. These reports have been downloaded off of the government’s website around 210,000 times, working out at 72p per download.

However, some individual papers have had less people reading them, resulting in much higher costs per download.

Independence Minister Jamie Hepburn, First Minister Humza Yousaf and Deputy First Minister Shona Robison unveiling one of the Scottish Government's independence papers. Image: Robert Perry/Press Association.

The highest was paper eight, ‘Our marine sector in an independent Scotland’, which cost £14,057 to produce. However, since it was published in November it has only been accessed 1,295 times, equating to £10.85 per download.

The next highest was paper nine, ‘Social security in an independent Scotland’, published only a month later and costing £5.20 per download.

Campaign group Scotland In Union said the Government needed to “stop wasting” money on these papers.

Pamela Nash, the group’s chief executive, said: “Since the SNP-Green Government embarked on this exercise, the chief criticism has been that it is a disgraceful waste of money. Taxpayers’ cash shouldn’t be used to promote nationalist propaganda.

“It would seem, judging by the number of people accessing these reports, that the public agrees.”

Ms Nash added: “Ministers must explain why spending several pounds for every person downloading a report, as was the case with some of these papers, is good value for money. It’s time for the Scottish Government to stop wasting resources this way and focus on people’s priorities.”

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Some of the other highest numbers have been for the reports ‘Creating a modern constitution for an independent Scotland’, costing £2.71 per download, and ‘An independent Scotland in the EU’, costing £2.65 per download.

The best value for money paper was the first in the Building a New Scotland series, called ‘Independence in the modern world’. It cost £18,993 to produce and was downloaded 64,160 times, working out at 30p per download.

The Scottish Government has been approached for comment.