The dark art of political spin

This is an absolute classic - just out this afternoon from the Scottish Government :-(

I'll quote the bit that even Peter Mandelson would be proud of:

"Since May last year, this Government has signed-off funding for seven major local authority projects" ...

No mention of this:

• S3W-9305 - George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab) (Date Lodged Thursday, January 31, 2008): To ask the Scottish Executive how many contracts for the building of new schools have been signed in each local authority since May 2007.
• Answered by Maureen Watt (Friday, February 29, 2008): Local authorities procure new schools through more than one procurement route. Seven local authorities have signed school PPP contracts since May 2007, allowing building work to progress on 45 schools, almost all new builds. Those authorities, with their shares of 45 schools, are Aberdeen City (10), Dumfries and Galloway (10), East Dunbartonshire (6), Falkirk (4), Perth and Kinross (9), West Dunbartonshire (4) and West Lothian (2). With the exception of Public Private Partnerships (PPP), the Scottish Government does not hold comprehensive information about local authorities'' school building contracts.

... which was followed up thus:

• S3W-10606 - George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab) (Date Lodged Friday, February 29, 2008): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-9305 by Maureen Watt on 29 February 2008, how many of the 45 school building contracts referred to were initiated prior to 3 May 2007.
• Answered by Maureen Watt (Thursday, March 13, 2008): All seven contracts were under negotiation prior to 3 May 2007.

So, the Minister might have "signed-off" the contracts but she hasn't been responsible for initiating a single one of the schools contained within them ...

... indeed, she hasn't initiated a SINGLE new school building contract since May 2007.

Talk about NO SHAME.