£2.346m: rising cost of spin at Holyrood

The salaries, pension payments and National Insurance costs for the 40 civil servants employed in the government's communications department were revealed in the answer to a request lodged under the Freedom of Information Act.

The communications costs, which did not include salaries paid to political special advisers, were higher than that recorded in 2008-9 (2.202 million) and 2007-8 (2.137 million).

The amount being spent on the government's press response operation was criticised by Lord Foulkes, the Lothians MSP.

"An entire army of spin doctors cannot mask the SNP's broken promises, or Alex Salmond's own personal failure to bring forward his flagship referendum bill," Lord Foulkes said.

But a government spokesman claimed the 2009-10 cost was the equivalent of 85,000 lower than the 2.153 million recorded in 2004-5 when inflation was taken into account.

The spokesman added: "Our aim is to deliver value for taxpayers' money with a high-quality service which meets the round-the-clock demands of media organisations across Scotland, the UK and further afield. We are working in challenging financial circumstances and aim to be as efficient and effective as we can. As part of our drive to identify efficiencies, we have cut our central advertising expenditure for 2010-11 by 50 per cent."