They are the quangos across Scotland that have spent the most in recent times on public relations – and the agency at the top of the list perhaps is not surprising.
National tourism quango VisitScotland, which helps promote and market the nation across the globe, has come out in first place on this top ten list, having spent £34.5m on public relations in 2022/23 alone. The next highest in terms of PR spending amongst Scotland’s quangos came in at £6.1m, in a sign of just how much expenditure came from the one tourism body.
In total, Scotland’s quangos spent over £67.3 million on public relations in 2022/23.
The analysis of quangos spanned 95 organisations, ranging from major executive non-departmental public bodies and public corporations such as Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Water, through to a host of executive agencies such as Education Scotland and Scottish Forestry.
Here are the top ten spending quangos on public relations in full.
1. VisitScotland
VisitScotland, which has been widely criticised for its decision to close dozens of tourist information centres, accounted for more than half of the total, spending £34.5 million to comfortably rank in top spot for PR spenders. Picture: Lisa Ferguson Photo: LISA FERGUSON
2. Scottish Enterprise
Scottish Enterprise - a non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government that encourages economic development, enterprise, innovation, international and investment in business - came in at No.2 in the top ten list for PR spending, having outlayed almost 6.1 million pounds. Photo: Ben Birchall/PA Wire Photo: Ben Birchall
3. David MacBrayne Ltd
David MacBrayne Ltd, the Calmac ferry holding company, spent almost 2.1 million pounds on PR in 2022/23 to come in at third place in the top ten spenders. Picture: John Devlin Photo: John Devlin
4. NatureScot
NatureScot, which has a statutory responsibility to further the conservation, control and sustainable management of all wild deer species in Scotland, racked up a little over two million pounds in PR spending for 2022/23. This placed the quango in fourth spot on the PR spending rankings. Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images Photo: Jeff J Mitchell