So much for bonfire of the quangos, staff levels rocket by 20pc

SCOTLAND’S army of quango staff has swollen by more than 20 per cent under Nicola Sturgeon, new figures have revealed.

There are now 10,600 staff working for executive non-departmental advisory bodies (NDPBs) such as Scottish Enterprise and Quality Meat Scotland – up from 8,770 in 2014.

The SNP swept to power in 2007 pledging to light a ‘bonfire of the quangos’ to save taxpayers’ cash.

But after slashing the number of officials by a third, staff roles have been creeping back up and now stand at levels not seen for a decade.

Last night, John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance campaign group, said: ‘Paying for even more quangocrats is an unacceptable demand on taxpayers.

‘Bureaucrat budgets are being protected at a time when the economy is in the red and many are facing economic ruin. It’s high time politicians cleaned up the state and cut back on these pricey pen-pushers.’

Quangos are bodies that are funded by the Government to meet ministers’ strategic aims, but are run outwith the civil service. Critics claim that that distance often makes them profligate and lacking in accountability.

When the SNP came to power, there were 12,300 full-time equivalent quango officials. Under Alex Salmond, the Scottish Government

axed or merged dozens of public bodies, among them a number of NPDBs, to reduce their employment roll to 8,510 by 2013.

The figure rose to 8,770 by the time Miss Sturgeon replaced him as First Minister in November 2014 and has steadily climbed ever since to the current figure of 10,600.

There are now 41 executive NDPBs, including VisitScotland, the Scottish Qualifications Authority, Creative Scotland and Bord na Gaidhlig. Over the past nine months, two more have been added to the list: Ferguson Marine – the nationalised shipyard in Port Glasgow, Renfrewshire – and the South of Scotland Enterprise Agency.

Earlier this year, Bord na Gaidhlig – a quango for promoting the Gaelic language – was labelled a ‘total disaster’ by MSPs on Holyrood’s public audit committee following a damning report by the public spending watchdog Audit Scotland.

Chief executive Shona MacLennan enjoys an annual pay and pension package of £90-95,000, with two other executives on more than £65,000 a year.

Scottish Tory finance spokesman Murdo Fraser said: ‘This SNP government is too quick to create quangos and all too often it is the taxpayer left counting the cost.

‘Creating endless commissions and spinout bodies just gets in the way of dealing with the systemic issues Scotland faces.’

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘Since 2007, the Scottish Government has simplified the public sector landscape and reduced the number of public bodies by 35 per cent.’