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The Herald
By ROBBIE DINWOODIE
January 24 2006 A Tory MSP
has accused the Scottish Executive of renaming its advertising budget
as a marketing development in order to hide an increase of almost £1m
in "government propaganda".
Derek Brownlee, the party's finance spokesman, said the executive's
autumn budget revision showed a reduction of the advertising budget of
£400,000, but he said hidden in the detail was a £1.3m rise in a
separate category, marketing development.
He said: "Far from being a reduction in the executive's advertising
budget, it would appear that almost £1m extra is being thrown at it. To
suggest that a firmer grip on spending is being applied is nonsense.
"With the 2007 elections just around the corner, perhaps we shouldn't
be surprised if ever more government propaganda is going to be funded
by the taxpayer."
A spokesman for the executive said that in common with other government
departments, the executive defined its advertising budget as comprising
four elements – buying space in a variety of media, agency fees,
production costs and market research.
He added: "Other public information costs, such as website development
and public relations to support particular campaigns, are covered by
the marketing development budget. There is no attempt to hide these
figures, as the budget revisions demonstrate."
He insisted that the total spend for advertising was within the cap set
by the first minister in 2003-04. The marketing development budget,
which was not capped, had risen slightly, but the total of the two
budgets remained well below that spent in 2002-03, he said.
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