Civil service 'Scotland's No 1 boom industry'

THE Tories yesterday claimed that government itself was Scotland's major growth industry after it was revealed that the number of civil servants employed by the Executive has increased by nearly a third since devolution.

Unveiling their annual survey of Scotland's bureaucrats, the Conservatives also claimed that the number of staff employed to deal with the media had tripled since 1997 and that there had been a huge leap in the cost of political advisers to ministers since 1999.

According to official figures, obtained by the Tories in parliamentary answers, the number of Executive staff increased from 3,336 in 1999 to 4,410 this year, while the number of media staff grew from 30 in 1997 to 91 in 2004. The answers from ministers also showed that the salaries, National Insurance and pension costs for special advisers - political appointments who are temporary civil servants - increased from 398,062 during 1999-2000 to 704,790 in 2004-5.

Ted Brocklebank, a Tory MSP for Mid-Scotland and Fife, said: "These figures reveal the stark truth about government in Scotland. It just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

"No wonder our economy lags behind the rest of the UK when government itself is the biggest business of them all."

Last night, the Executive said the growth in the number of civil servants reflected the increased workload brought about by devolution. A spokesman said: "In the first parliamentary session, between 1999 and 2003, parliament dealt with 50 Executive bills, by comparison to the four or five bills a year that would have been dealt with at Westminster."

The spokesman claimed that the latest figure of 4,410 was not the highest there has been, pointing out that there were 4,700 civil servants employed by the Scottish Office in 1993.

He added that the number of press officers had remained "static" over the past four years - at about 44 - and that the Tory figures included civil servants who worked on the Executive's website and temporary staff employed to help with marketing. "The level of media interest since 1999 has increased significantly," he added.

The Executive also stressed that ministers have not employed the full quota of 12 special advisers allowed under the Scotland Act. The spokesman said the cost increase from 596,555 in 2003-4 to the current level was partly a result of recommendations made by the senior salary review board.

According to the Executive, the 2004-5 cost for special advisers appeared higher than the 2003-4 figure because during that time many of the special advisers had resigned to work for their political parties during the Holyrood elections.

Figures released yesterday revealed the amount spent by the Executive on advertising has risen from 3 million in 1999-2000 to 9.5 million this year.