Tram inquiry has cost YOU almost £11m

THE public probe into Edinburgh’s ‘disastrous’ tram project has cost nearly £11million, it has emerged.

This includes £4.4million in payments to staff, although officials refused to disclose how much has been paid to inquiry chairman Lord Hardie.

The huge sum – funded from the public purse – was confirmed by the Scottish Government yesterday.

The inquiry into the trams project – which arrived five years late, in 2014, and cost nearly £1billion instead of the estimated £375million – was announced in 2014 by then first minister Alex Salmond, who insisted it would be ‘swift and thorough’.

But Lord Hardie’s report has yet to be published, with an inquiry spokesman saying his findings ‘will be published as soon as practicable’.

Last night, Tory MSP for Lothian Miles Briggs said: ‘This has been an expensive footnote to what was already a disastrous project.

‘It’s no surprise the SNP Government is refusing to reveal the costs in full. That ties in to their Secret Scotland approach and shows again just how scared the Nationalists are of transparency and accountability.’

A freedom of information response said the inquiry had now cost £10.56million. In 2017-18, at the peak of the inquiry’s evidence-gathering, the single year bill was £2.9million.

This fell to £1.2million the following year and to £324,000 in the first five months of this year.

Staff costs have been £4.39million since 2014 – £1.3million in 2016-17, £1.03million in 2017-18, £308,000 in 2018-19 and £117,000 between April and August of this year.

A request for details of payments to Lord Hardie was rejected because it is ‘personal data of a third party’.

An inquiry spokesman said: ‘Lord Hardie’s remit is to conduct a robust inquiry and it will take as long as is necessary. All efforts have been made to ensure it delivers best value for the public purse.’

He said Lord Hardie’s salary was an issue for the Scottish Government, which said staffing issues were ‘a matter for the inquiry’.

Transport Scotland said: ‘Although ministers have had no role in the day-to-day running of this inquiry, from the outset they wanted it to be efficient, cost-effective and deliver clear recommendations.’