Born in 1946 and brought up in Cupar, Fife, I was educated at the local school - 
SNP MSP for Banff and Buchan Mr Stewart Stevenson has today (Monday) revealed that the Scottish Executive is not fully aware of how many temporary staff it employs and that the amount of money spent each year on agency staff has more than doubled since 2000, up to over 2.5 million pounds. Commenting, Mr Stevenson said:
"Over the last 4 years, the amount of taxpayer’s money that has been spent on agency staff has more than doubled, and even then we cannot tell the full extent of the cost, as only people from recruitment agencies have been counted.
"It seems as though the Executive has no clue how many agency staff they have at any one time in each individual department, and indeed the true cost of employing them.
"It is totally untenable that any large organisation is completely unaware of how many people they have on their payroll, especially at a time when the Executive have admitted that there will have to be cuts made to the civil service.
"While it is understandable that from time to time temporary staff may be needed, the fact still remains that over 2.5 million pounds has been spent in the last year alone.
"The figure has steadily crept up over the last four years, and questions must be asked about why employing short term staff has become such common practice."
"It seems as though the Executive has no clue how many agency staff they have at any one time in each individual department, and indeed the true cost of employing them.
"It is totally untenable that any large organisation is completely unaware of how many people they have on their payroll, especially at a time when the Executive have admitted that there will have to be cuts made to the civil service.
"While it is understandable that from time to time temporary staff may be needed, the fact still remains that over 2.5 million pounds has been spent in the last year alone.
"The figure has steadily crept up over the last four years, and questions must be asked about why employing short term staff has become such common practice."
