Trams inquiry costs exceed £3.7m

The Edinburgh trams inquiry has already cost more than £3.7 million, BBC Scotland reports.

The probe is looking at what went wrong with the £776m trams project, which exceeded its budget and was completed five years late.

Alex Salmond, who established the inquiry in June 2014 as First Minister, said it would be “swift and thorough”.

While a spokesman for the inquiry said it was making “good progress”, they were unable to give a date as to when Lord Hardie would report its findings.

They said: “The Scottish ministers have been clear from the start that the inquiry should be timely and cost effective.

“Lord Hardie’s priority is to conduct a thorough investigation into the Edinburgh tram project and produce a report and recommendations that ensure lessons are learned for future major infrastructure projects.”

In response to a freedom of information request, Transport Scotland published details of the costs so far.

Legal fees have accounted for £716,000 and staffing costs £1.822m.

And the Scottish government has allocated a further £2.5m for 2016-17.

Miles Briggs, a Conservative MSP for the Lothians, said: “Edinburgh taxpayers are quite rightly angry that the Edinburgh Trams inquiry has gone on for so long and at such a cost to the taxpayer.

“It is essential that lessons are learnt from the inquiry and that the findings should be reported back as soon as possible so we can see what went wrong during the original project.

“Too often public infrastructure contracts are allowed to overrun with Scottish taxpayers being exposed to the increases in costs.”

Twenty-five people are employed by the inquiry and are taking statements from “witnesses of interest” in advance of oral hearings.

The inquiry’s scope is confined to why the project overran its budget to such a great extent and why it delivered less than planned.

It will not examine why the project was given the green light nor will it determine if anyone is legally or financially liable.

A spokesman for the government said: “We have been clear from the outset that the inquiry should be efficient and cost effective, however, we know that major infrastructure projects do generate large quantities of documentation, and we understand the inquiry team has already gathered over six million documents.

“Lord Hardie and his team is firmly committed to discerning the facts in a robust and thorough manner in order to ensure the final report is fair, balanced and offers clear recommendations for the planning and construction of future projects.”