Hyslop failed to read key report on T in the Park

UNDER- FIRE Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop failed to read a report she quoted in defence of giving £150,000 of taxpayers’ cash to T in the Park.

In a heated clash with committee members this week, she insisted it was right to prop up the festival as it was worth £15.4million to the Scottish economy.

That figure was contained in research by consultants EKOS and commissioned by DF Concerts, which runs the event.

Now the Scottish Government has admitted neither she nor her officials read the report.

Liz Smith, Scottish Tory culture spokesman, said: ‘It’s clear that allegations surrounding the SNP using £150,000 of taxpayers’ money to fund T in the Park, are not going to go away f or Fiona Hyslop and the Nationalist Government.

‘It’s the job of any government to make sure there is a cast-iron business case in place for funding events with money from the public purse. Clearly, that has not happened in this case.

‘That’s exactly why we are seeking straight answers from the Culture Secretary, but instead, we are given nothing. No sense of what the business case was, and no information about what the money was spent on.’

The SNP has been accused of cronyism after Jennifer Dempsie, a f ormer aide to Alex Salmond, provided DF Concerts with access to the Culture Secretary and three other Government Ministers.

Miss Hyslop has also failed to explain why a company which has consistently r ecorded pre-tax profits of more than £4.5million, paid dividends of £3.35million to shareholders in 2013, and is sponsored by brewing giants Tennent’s, needed taxpayer support.

Mrs Smith said: ‘ All we have had is lots of redacted statements and denials about how much was known about Ms Dempsie’s involvement in the whole saga.

‘The public will quite rightly be furious. The Scottish Government put on record that it did not examine other possible funding sources in detail so this just increases the pressure on the Culture Secretary to explain why £150,000 of public money was required. We now need the First Minister to step in and give us some solid answers.’

Miss Hyslop finally succumbed to weeks of pressure to appear before the education and culture committee this week, for one of the most bruising grillings of a Government minister in years.

She said T in the Park’s move from Balado to Strathallan had cost DF Concerts a ‘ sevenfigure sum’ and shareholders were threatening to either move it to a single-day event, or pull out of Scotland altogether. Labour MSP Mark Griffin said the grant had a ‘whiff of cronyism’, while Mary Scanlon, of the Tories, questioned its legality.

Miss Hyslop has repeatedly insisted she was right to hand over the money, and Nicola Sturgeon has backed t he decision.

Yesterday, t he Scottish Government said there was no reason for her to read the report before handing over taxpayers’ money.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘DF Concerts provided the Scottish Government with details of the economic impact findings of the EKOS study which DF Concerts had commissioned.

‘EKOS is a well-known, independent and reputable economic and social research consultancy firm.

‘The findings provided were entirely in line with what we would have expected for an event of this scale and we had no reason to question the validity of the information.’

An Audit Scotland spokesman added: ‘We’re aware of this matter and will consider whether this expenditure requires a more detailed review.’