Daily Express: Our hard-up councils fork out £67m to pay advisors

SCOTLAND'S district councils are spending record amounts of taxpayers' money on consultancy fees, it emerged yesterday.

Local authorities spent more than £67million hiring external advisers last year alone, a rise of more than 30 per cent on 2006.

New figures, released under freedom of information legislation, showed Edinburgh was the biggest spender, shelling out £8.2million on consultants.

North Lanarkshire came second in the list, spending £7.1million, followed by Highland, which spent £7million, while the largest local authority, Glasgow, said it had spent £2million.

Advisors were brought in to help with issues ranging from weather forecasts to quizzing students about their accommodation.

Last night public spending experts and politicians criticised the massive drain on council finances, at a time when many are struggling to deliver the recent council tax freeze.

Tory MSP Margaret Mitchell, who has been investigating consultant spending in her Central Scotland constituency, said: "It's a colossal amount of money.

"Questions have to be asked whether it is value for money. Why on earth are we spending over £100,000 on the salaries of so many directors if so much is having to be farmed out?" Mark Wallace, campaign director of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said:

"Consultants are an easy way to pass the buck when things go wrong. No amount of tinkering can solve the problems of public funding." The figures show East Renfrewshire spent £5,000 on secret shopping exercises, Aberdeenshire £44,500 on teaching creativity and entrepreneurial skills to school pupils and a further £118,000 on weather forecasting.

Falkirk Council paid consultants £3,000 over school timetables, while North Lanarkshire spent almost £1,000 to find out students' perceptions o where they live.

The findings come at a time when councils are facing tough financial decisions after being charged with making two per cent efficiency savings on the back of a council tax freeze.

The findings have angered union officials. Dave Watson of Unison said: "I think this massive increase is very worrying at a time when councils are strapped for cash".

Edinburgh City Council finance convener Gordon Mackenzie said last night: "In the short term consultants can save you money because they're only there on the bill for the amount of time they do the job."