Marketing Edinburgh set to receive close to £200,000 in private again as criticism mounts

Marketing Edinburgh could be set to receive another £200,000 of taxpayers money without public scrutiny with the decision set to made in private today, the Evening News can reveal.

It is understood two options are on the table for the controversy stricken council owned company as part of a report to the council’s Leadership Advisory Panel, due to sit today.

The company suffered an en-masse resignation of its directors in November over the council’s decision to cease funding and has been dogged by criticism by opponents who claim the company had the money to be wound up quickly following that decision.

Party leaders of the political groups at the council will be asked to consider plans to continue with an ongoing redundancy consultation which would cost the council around £300,000.

The second option, recommended by council officers, would see a small number of core staff retained and see Marketing Edinburgh operate at a much reduced level, the Evening News understands.

This, if passed by the leadership panel, would see the company receive around £200,000 in committed support from the council, with around £100,000 of that funding part of a contingency plan which, if not needed, would be repaid to the council.

One council insider said the continued funding request raised serious questions about the actions of the current board which includes the SNP’s Kate Campbell, the Green’s Claire Miller and Labour’s Mandy Watt.

They said: “No answer has been given in public as to whether or not the company is an ongoing business. The question has been avoided in council.

“This decision could see £200,000 be spent to hibernate the company for a year without a plan for what we are going to get out of it at the end.

“It begs the question of whether if this was a normal business, what would good governance look like to the public sector and how close is Marketing Edinburgh’s governance to that?”

In mid-March, the council’s Finance and Resources committee approved a £200,000 payment to Marketing Edinburgh in private which was understood to cover the cost of enhanced redundancy packages promised within employee’s contracts.

The cash will also be used to pay subvention costs for future conferences, and provide the current board to pay any redundancy payments if needed.

It is understood that if the plans for further funding are approved today, the company will look to recover some costs through potential debt recovery and the recovery of subvention costs for events which have since been cancelled.

The company’s situation can be linked back to October when the council’s housing, homelessness and fair work committee rejected proposals by the Marketing Edinburgh board and management team, which would have seen a shift to managing rather than encouraging tourism, due to no funding being available.

This led to the resignation of the entire board of the company, leaving 16 employees in limbo since November.

A council spokesperson said: “We’re unable to comment on this information, which relates to a sensitive internal document.”