Lord Advocate spends £208K a year of taxpayers money to run media policy known for half truths THE COST of running the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) “Communications Unit” which has been known to issue fantastical media releases relating to seriously inept prosecutions, and operate the occasional boycott of legal publications critical of Crown Office policy, has been revealed in details of a Freedom of Information request passed to Scottish Law Reporter.
Figures obtained via FOI disclose around TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHT THOUSAND POUNDS a year are squandered paid out by the Lord Advocate on a six person media unit who write Press Releases praising the policies of the Lord Advocate & Scottish Government and the results of criminal prosecutions (only the successful ones, not the failures or fiddles – Ed)
Grade Staff numbers Salary Range
Band C 1 £20,573 - £25,285
Band D 3 £24,707 - £29,736
Band E 1 £33, 072 - £40,364
Band F 1 £44,263 - £52,847
The total amount of expenses paid to staff in the Communications Department in the last two financial years is as follows: 2009 - 2010 £550 2010 - 2011 £1,049
Information on how COPFS recruits its media staff was also disclosed in papers passed to Scottish Law Reporter, stating : Recruitment for the COPFS Head of Communications post last took place in October 2010. The post was advertised on 28 September 2010 with a closing date of 15 October 2010. The post is based in Crown Office and is a permanent post.The salary range for the post was £44,263 to £52,847 with an additional allowance payable of between £3000 and £5000. There were three applicants for the post and 3 people were interviewed
Bungalow Boss : Ex-Law Society Chief craves suicide in roman bath slasher stushi The current Head of Communications for the Crown Office has been identified from the popular website Linkedin as journalist Jennifer Veitch, who wrote an extensive article in the Scotsman newspaper some years ago on former Law Society of Scotland Boss Douglas Mill, who spectacularly fell from his position only weeks after a You Tube video surfaced of a bitter exchange between himself and current Scottish Government Finance Chief John Swinney during debates on self regulation at the Scottish Parliament.
Ms Veitch’s article reported the now former Law Society boss felt he was so underappreciated in Scotland, to the point he would rather commit suicide. Mill was reported to have said in the article, titled “A lawyer is never loved in his own homeland” (15 August 2006) : "But you go abroad and you get the feel-good factor, and you come back to what I have to deal with five days a week - and you feel like opening your wrists and lying in a warm bath."
It is generally known the Crown Office Communications Unit have operated a media boycott of Scots legal publication “The Firm” for some years after it consistently raised questions over COPFS conduct.
2 comments:
Odd someone who calls themselves a 'journalist' would sign up to/enforce the Lord Advocate's boycott of another media outlet..
"He who pays the piper" comes to mind..
How the HELL can this Office Justify employing 6 people in these days of hardship.
Why cannot The Lord Advocate contact a press officer and release any statement directly to them?
Or maybe he could be assisted by one maybe two others at the VERY MOST?
Is the real reason that six are employed is to try to media manage the truth so that they can spin lies and half-truths out to the public?
You are The Lord Advocate not The Lord Mayor of London, although in gaffs you may be his equal?
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