04 June 2005

More ado about not very much

Scottish Executive expenditure on publications has risen from £1.2 million in 1999-2000 to £1.5 million in 2004-2005. Cue synthetic outrage from Christine Grahame MSP in last night's Evening News:
"The bill run up by Scottish ministers in just a few years on glossy leaflets is the same as the exclusive Beverley Hills mansion recently sold by Hollywood star Jennifer Lopez.
"This is an obscene amount of money to be spending at a time when service provision across the public sector is being stripped back, where wages are being pegged and honest working men and women are ultimately left to pick up the bill."

Aye weel... As far as I am aware, the Executive has not bought nor is intending to buy a Hollywood mansion, so what is the point of the comparison? And even if £1.5 million might have bought the services of 60 nurses for a year, this is not really an either/or case (especially as the Executive's annual underspend exceeds £400 million).

Given the size of the Executive, an annual £1.5 million on publications would seem well within the bounds of normal expectations. So why all the fuss?

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