Scottish Enterprise expenses on the rise

SENIOR executives at Scottish Enterprise have significantly increased their spending on overseas travel and expenses at a time when other taxpayer-funded organisations are being urged to reduce their budgets.

Managers and board members of the Scottish Government’s jobs creation agency spent £59,321 of taxpayers’ money on overseas trips in the past year, compared to £45,869 the previous year.

Expenses paid out of the public purse include flights, hotel bills and incidental expenses, including meals and taxi journeys, according to information obtained from a Freedom of Information request submitted by Scotland on Sunday.

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Lena Wilson, the organisation’s chief executive, spent £25,663 on travel expenses during 2010-11, an increase of £5,000 on the year before.

Her trips included visits to Japan and China with First Minister Alex Salmond, and trade missions to Brazil, India, Dubai and the US.

Anne MacColl, who was appointed chief executive of Scottish Development International, the trade and investment arm of the organisation, last December ran up bills of £13,548 in her first year in the job.

She spent £10,504 on flights to the US, Japan, South Africa and Europe, visits aimed at promoting investment opportunities for Scottish firms.

Scottish Enterprise claimed one reason for the increased spending was the appointment of MacColl to a post that had been empty the previous year.

A Scottish Enterprise spokeswoman said: “Overseas travel is a necessary and integral part of Anne’s role in order to pursue international opportunities for Scottish business and attract potential foreign direct investment.”

The spokeswoman said international investment contributes £325m a year to the Scottish economy.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman added: “The Scottish Government and its agencies are working hard to build sustainable economic growth for Scotland and securing inward investment is an important part of this.”