Scottish First Minister 'kept in dark' over 40 policy advisers' jobs

A £2m recruitment drive to hire 40 policy analysts at the Scottish Executive has sparked a battle of wills between the First Minister, Jack McConnell, and the head of the Civil Service in Scotland.

Yesterday Mr McConnell confirmed he was seeking urgent clarification of the nature of the jobs from Sir Muir Russell, a career civil servant who had been tipped as a possible successor to Sir Richard Wilson, the retiring head of the Home Civil Service.

Mr McConnell said he was not told of the appointments, and expected to meet Sir Muir within the next few days to ask why so many posts had been advertised externally at the same time.

The move has been seized upon by opposition MSPs as a blatant example of incompetence at the heart of Scotland's Government.

Although Mr McConnell says he was kept in the dark about the plan to recruit eight new policy analysts and fill 32 existing vacancies for staff to help policy development at the Scottish Executive, his critics have cast doubt on his explanation, alleging an abuse of power by the ruling Labour Party.

The Scottish National Party said the hiring of more policy analysts while Labour was writing its election manifesto amounted to a misuse of taxpayers' money, while the Tories said the money would be better spent on nurses and police officers.

The First Minister said he became aware of the recruitment plan only on Friday, after an advertisement for the posts, offering salaries of up to £45,000, appeared in the press.

John Swinney, SNP leader, said: "Jack McConnell is saying he was not fiddling £2m worth of policy advice ahead of writing the Labour manifesto, but instead was simply incompetent in not knowing what his administration was doing.He has been caught red-handed using taxpayers' money to employ these 40 new advisers and does not even have the political courage to take responsibility for his Government's actions.

"His attempt to smear Sir Muir Russell is the desperate act of a man who knows no one will believe this is anything but the latest example of Labour's abuse of power."

The number of civil servants in Scotland has risen by more than 1,000 since devolution, fuelling concerns over the alleged increased politicisation of some posts.