Audit Scotland to investigate T in the park funding

Audit Scotland has confirmed it will investigate an award of £150,000 made by the Scottish Government to the T in the park music festival.

Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop awarded the money to assist festival organisers DF concerts relocate from Balado to the Strathallan estate in Perthshire, but the deal has been accused of ‘cronyism’ after it emerged former SNP staffer Jennifer Dempsie brokered the deal in her new role as project manager of the event.

In September the Education and Culture Committee questioned Hyslop on the deal, and a perceived lack of an audit trail.

In a statement today Audit Scotland said it would review the funding following “correspondence” received on the matter.

"We will look at the relevant governance arrangements and how grant funding was applied in this case.

"The outcome of our audit work will determine when we report on our findings. If and when we identified any issues, we would bring these to the attention of correspondents, the public and the Scottish Government during the course of the audit," the public spending watchdog said.

Scottish Labour’s Business Manager James Kelly welcomed the investigation.

“From the very beginning SNP Ministers have been secretive and failed to answer even the most basic questions. Hopefully now Audit Scotland will get to the bottom of exactly what happened here,” he said.

In September Hyslop told MSPs the deal complied with state aid rules. "My interest is the economic interest of this country and the cultural offering we have got for generations of young people, and the development of the contemporary music scene in Scotland," she said.

But she was criticised for only giving committee members heavily-redacted papers the evening before.