THE Scottish Government has come under fire after a private firm was hired to carry out a health service staff survey, leaving the taxpayer with a larger bill than when an NHS body did the same job.

Capita, an international business services firm based in London, won the contract to quiz health service workers earlier this year after the Scottish Government decided to put the work out to tender.

Despite Health Secretary Alex Neil saying the contract was advertised in a bid to "ensure best value for money", it has emerged the Government has agreed to pay Capita £261,000 for carrying out the 2014 survey, 13 per cent more than the £231,000 that NHS National Services Scotland received for organising it last year when outside firms were not offered the chance to bid for the work.

The SNP's move to outsource the work at an increased cost to the taxpayer sparked fresh accusations of hypocrisy, after it was claimed during the referendum campaign that only a vote in favour of independence would protect the NHS from privatisation.

Labour health spokesman Neil Findlay said: "The reality is that the only government that can privatise our NHS is the SNP and they are doing so under our very noses. It is ridiculous that Alex Neil is spending more Government money on a private company to carry out a task that the NHS has previously conducted itself. If our incoming First Minister is genuine about protecting our NHS then she should ask serious questions of her replacement as Health Secretary."

National Services Scotland did not submit a bid for the survey following the decision to put it out for tender. The Scottish Government said the survey had been carried out by outside bodies in the past, most recently by a university business school when the contract was advertised in 2010. The staff surveys, which were previously carried out every two to three years but have now become annual, ask NHS workers a series of questions about the health service, including how they are treated by their bosses and whether they are concerned about staffing levels.

Conservative health spokesman Jackson Carlaw said outsourcing the staff survey was evidence of deception and "sheer hypocrisy".

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said: "The staff survey will be conducted by Capita, following an open competitive tendering procurement exercise."