Opposition politicians reacted with fury last night when it emerged a retired judge had been paid more than £1million to chair the £13million Edinburgh Tram Inquiry.
A government-funded probe started in 2014 into the crisis-hit transport project after it came in £400million over budget and five years late. Nine years later and five years after evidence ended, the inquiry chaired by Lord Hardie has still not issued its final report.
But the Daily Record can reveal that the former judge has pocketed an “eye-watering” £1,056,181 to chair the probe after transport chiefs tried to keep the sum a secret. After two years, the Scottish Information Commissioner agreed with the Record that Lord Hardie’s earnings should be public knowledge.
Transport Scotland said yesterday it had noted the decision of the commissioner. It added: “We can confirm that Lord Hardie has been paid a total of £1,056,181.59 for his role as chair of the Edinburgh Tram Inquiry from 2014 when the inquiry commenced to the date that we received your request.”
Last night, Scottish Labour transport spokesperson Alex Rowley said: “These eye-watering sums of public money raise
fresh questions about how this inquiry has been allowed to fall into such chaos. Costs have spiralled and years have passed but we are still waiting for the report – it is farcical.
“We need to learn the lessons of what happened in Edinburgh, and this report must be delivered without any more delays or cost increases.” , Ian Murray, Labour MP for Edinburgh South, said the cost of the tram probe was now similar to the cost of the inquiry into the Iraq War.
He said: “Given that it’s clear nobody will be held to account, the public will rightly be wondering whether this has
been a good use of public money, especially when costs are in line with the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq War.”
The Record made the Freedom of Information request in August 2021. The inquiry announced recently Lord Hardie has completed his report, which has gone to printers for publication in the next few weeks.
The Edinburgh Tram Inquiry was considered controversial from the start. Although it was set up to establish why the tram network was five years late and more than £400million over budget at £776million, there was no prospect of criminal proceedings.
But amid rumours of subcontractors operating scams such as “ghost accounts” to pay wages of non-existent employees and milk the public purse, many questioned the merits of holding a “toothless” inquiry. Last year, it emerged that the total cost of the inquiry would be more than £13.1million.
The probe was ordered days after the tram line between Edinburgh Airport and the city centre opened, having taken seven years to complete, on May 31, 2014. Despite the soaring cost of the project, it was far shorter than the original scheme that would have included loops via Roseburn, Granton and Newhaven.
When former first minister Alex Salmond announced the inquiry in 2014, he said he wanted it to be “swift and thorough”. Instead, more than nine years later, and weeks after the three additional miles from the city centre to Newhaven finally opened, the public is still waiting for the report.
Construction work along the route has put many shops out of business, especially on Leith Walk where traffic and parking have been curtailed three times – to lay tracks, then remove them when the first phase ran out of money, and finally to lay them again for the extended line. Almost two years ago, the Record tried to find out how much the chairman had been paid and when his report was expected.
Transport Scotland said it believed that Lord Hardie’s fees were “personal data” and that “it would breach the principles of UK data protection legislation to release this information”. The Record appealed the decision, arguing that the public have a right to know how taxpayers’ money is spent, and pointed out that the salaries of public servants are in the public domain.
As Lord Advocate and then as a judge, anyone who wanted to find Lord Hardie’s salary could do so in minutes. In its reply, Transport Scotland agreed there was a legitimate public interest but added: “Lord Hardie has maintained his opposition to the disclosure of the information requested and we consider that disclosure would be likely to cause harm or distress to Lord Hardie.
“We concluded that Lord Hardie’s interests or fundamental rights and freedoms overrode your legitimate interests in obtaining the information.”
On January 26 last year, the Record appealed to the Information Commissioner. Last month, the Commissioner’s office emailed to say it had accepted our argument but that Lord Hardie and Transport Scotland had six weeks to appeal.
They could only do so on a point of law and would have to go to court. Yesterday, the information was finally handed over.
A Transport Scotland spokesperson said: “We respect the decision of the Scottish Information Commissioner and have complied with the procedures set out in the decision notice by the required timescale. The requested information relating to the fees paid to the Chair of the Edinburgh Tram Inquiry has now been provided to the requester.
“We endeavour to handle all requests in line with the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act. Individuals of course have the right to appeal where they consider we have not complied and the Scottish Information Commissioner will reach a decision, which has happened in this instance.
“More broadly, we have agreed to fund the costs of the Trams Inquiry until completion, final costs will be published in due course.
“In terms of how many people are employed by the Inquiry and how much they are paid, as a statutory inquiry, it is independent of the Scottish Government.
“We look forward to receiving Lord Hardie’s findings to inform future major tram and light rail infrastructure projects.”
Lord Hardie was asked for comment through the Tram Inquiry PR team.
A spokeswoman said: “Lord Hardie is being paid on the basis of a daily rate for the hours that he works on inquiry matters. The daily rate is the standard fixed by the Scottish Government for retired judges.”
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