Lib Dems expose farce over SNP/Tory quango (North East and Central Fife Liberal Democrats)

North East and Central Fife Liberal Democrats <hq@necflibdems.org.uk>

Lib Dems expose farce over SNP/Tory quango

October 29, 2009 4:38 PM
Originally published by Scottish Liberal Democrats

Jeremy PurvisLiberal Democrat Finance spokesperson Jeremy Purvis MSP has revealed that despite the millions of pounds spent on the Scottish Futures Trust, there is only one member of staff.

A letter from the Finance Secretary to Mr Purvis on Monday 26 October with details of public sector body employment showed that despite the claims by the government that the SFT was delivering improved infrastructure, the Government figures showed it had no members of staff.

But Mr Purvis challenged the Finance Secretary in the Finance Committee the next day, forcing the Finance Secretary to issue a clarification late last night to say that in fact, this multi million pound quango employed one solitary member of staff, whom the Government clearly forgot about.

Commenting, Mr Purvis said:

"The SFT is a kind of political Bermuda Triangle where everything gets sucked in, but nothing comes out.

"We know their Scottish Futures Trust has no money, we were told on Monday that nobody worked for it and now they have discovered that there is someone there.

"In a recession there is a serious need for delivering infrastructure for Scotland's economy. But the SFT is fast becoming a national embarrassment, compounded by the fact that the Scottish Government can't even count to one."