Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Tavish Scott MSP has revealed that a Government quango has spent almost a million pounds on hospitality in the last two years.

The figures, released under Freedom of Information laws, show that in 2008/09, Scottish Enterprise spent £437,940.13 on hospitality, rising to £499,078.72 in 2009/10.

Commenting, Mr Scott said:

"A report earlier this year put Scotland at the bottom of the OECD for business start ups and figures earlier this week showed that unemployment is still rising. Yet our main economic agency is blowing increasing amounts of taxpayers’ money on wining and dining.

"Scottish Enterprise has spent almost a million pounds on hospitality in the last two years. Meanwhile Scottish businesses are going under and people are losing their jobs.

"SNP Ministers need to get a grip of quango spending. When budgets are this tight, the last thing quangos should be doing is digging deeper for hospitality budgets. Scottish Enterprise has its priorities badly wrong."