THE news that another public body has thrown a ridiculous amount of taxpayers' money at a creative agency for a rebranding exercise is almost so common as to be un-newsworthy.

In the grand scheme of things, is £55,000 a huge amount of public money for a body that handles millions? Actually, it is. At a time when ordinary Scots and other public organisations are having to tighten their belts and watch the pennies they spend, of course Historic Scotland’s payment to the Leith Agency should be properly scrutinised.

That £55k was not for printing new letterheads or sending out pens to “stakeholders” – it was given to the agency solely to come up with a new name and a new tagline. We do not know what names were discarded before the well remunerated board made their mind up to go for Historic Environment Scotland.

£55,000 – the cost to taxpayers of new name for Historic Scotland