"Mr McCabe told Holyrood the underspend of £235 million for 2005-6 was well below earlier figures - £281 million last year and £515 million in 2003-4. He hailed the underspend as "the best set of figures since devolution began". It represented only 0.9 per cent of the total budget.
Executive departments spent £171 million less than the budget approved for them last year, with a further £64 million underspent by arm's-length bodies such as the health boards and Scottish Water.
The enterprise and lifelong learning department's underspend of £74 million was put down to the fact that fewer student loans have been issued and also to higher than anticipated repayments of about £20 million."
However, £235 million is still a lot of money. And, if you have that amount sitting unspent in your back pocket, why make such a fuss about the Scottish Enterprise overspend of a piffling £30 to £40 million?
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