Ministers advice ignored over Holyrood project

Holyrood was chosen as the site for Scotland's biggest public building project without a full economic appraisal to discover the risks involved, it emerged yesterday (Thursday).

Members of an inquiry team, set up to investigate how the project's costs have run out of control, were told my senior civil servants that Donald Dewar, the then Scottish secretary, ignored guidelines and dismissed warnings from officials in his desire to complete the project as soon as possible.

It also emerged that Dewar appeared to ignore the normal procedures designed to prevent ministers from choosing the wrong site for major public buildings.

Dewar was also warned that there would be very real risks that costs could rise if they failed to make use of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI).

However, it is claimed that the warnings were ignored and the PFI option was dismissed after only eight days of consultation. The process should have taken two months.

Project costs for the Holyrood building currently stand at £375m from an original estimate of £30m. The project is also running two-and-a-half years late.

The inquiry continues.