Tram firm under fire over spending on consultants and staff junkets

HUNDREDS of thousands of pounds has been paid out in bonuses for work that was never carried out on Edinburgh's crisis-hit trams project, it has emerged.

The payments are among a raft of questionable costs borne by the publicly owned company set up to install the tram system to be revealed under freedom of information.

The payments, which include a soaring bill for consultancy work, thousands outlayed for staff away days and foreign travel and money paid to a motivational speaker to talk to employees, were met with anger yesterday, with one MSP saying the project had "been a disaster from start to finish".

Transport Initiatives Edinburgh (TIE), the publicly owned company set up to administer the tram works, was found to have spent 130,000 of its 1.1 million bonus pot on work carried out by employees on the Edinburgh Airport Rail Link. That project was axed by parliament in 2007 after a rocketing of its 600m budget, and according to reports, 29,000 of that bonus figure was paid out in the same year the project was cancelled.

At the same time, documents revealed the consultancy bill for the project has increased by as much as 500 per cent during the past year, with 2.5m paid to consultants since 2007 over and above the 1.2m spent on legal fees to help TIE fight a dispute with contractor Bilfinger Berger.

As well as consultancy costs, the documentation revealed that TIE spent thousands entertaining its staff on away days and hospitality. In 2007, it was found to have spent 1,000 on a staff quiz night and in 2008 staff parties cost it 1,600. The same year, 3,100 was spent on a board level event at North Berwick, with 2,500 used to fund accommodation and another 500 funding golf outings for board members.

This year, the company was found to have set aside more than 8,000 for a series of three team "away-days" at the Edinburgh International Climbing Centre at Ratho, with climbing lessons for staff, accommodation and catering all covered by the body. It also paid disabled mountaineer Jamie Andrew more than 1,700 to give a motivational speech to employees, and more than 29,000 was spent sending executives on 29 foreign trips since 2007.

SNP MSP Shirley-Anne Somerville reacted with anger to the revelations. She said: "This project has been a complete disaster from start to finish. It would almost be amusing if it wasn't destroying our capital city and costing the hardworking people of Scotland 600 million. It is not only outrageous that this project has been allowed to continue for so long."

But Richard Jeffrey, the chief executive of Edinburgh Trams, said the expenses incurred were "consistent with a professional and well run organisation".

He said: "As regards our team at Edinburgh Trams, they are the lifeblood of the organisation and investing in them means investing in the right people to manage what is a complex and difficult project. It is vital that we keep up to speed with best practice to retain the best people."

And addressing the consultancy fees, he added: "On a construction project of this scale, there are several areas of expertise where we have had to employ consultants to ensure our interests are best represented."

The expenses incurred by TIE emerged alongside a raft of freedom of information requests that revealed the extent to which the taxpayer funds education courses for staff within Scotland's quangos.

According to reports, bodies such as Scottish Water, Transport Scotland and VisitScotland have left the taxpayer with a bill of up to 1.5m for degree-level courses for employees.

Scottish Water was revealed to have paid out 591,231 since 2007 on courses including four MBAs at Edinburgh University and an MSc in sustainable development at Leicester University. Meanwhile, Transport Scotland spent 33,999 on courses, and VisitScotland outlayed nearly 155,00 since 2007.