Water Industry Commission for Scotland branded an embarrassment

Responding to this morning's Public Audit Commitee evidence session which discussed the Water Industry Commission for Scotland spending money on expensive dinners and a £77,000 Harvard training course for one member of staff, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:

"When I first heard reports of this spending I was gobsmacked. It sounds as if the commission was spraying public money around like a fire hose.

“Sewage was dumped at least 14,000 times last year, blighting our rivers and beaches. In the face of that scandal we need sober and effective watchdogs that are able to hold the government-owned water company to account.

"Instead we have a commission which has been dragged before parliament in embarrassment."