The year-long process to create Scotland's new arts funding body has involved nine consultancy firms at the cost of up to £200,000, The Herald can reveal.

The year-long process to create Scotland's new arts funding body has involved nine consultancy firms at the cost of up to £200,000, The Herald can reveal.

The transition team that is planning Creative Scotland, led by the arts consultant Anne Bonnar, has troubled leading arts figures by spending considerable sums on a small army of outside consultants, including firms such as Deloitte Touche.

The cost of these companies comes to a "six-figure sum", believed to be between £100,000 and £200,000.

News of the consultancy costs comes after criticism of the briefing given to arts companies by the transition team on its plans, described by one critic as "pure rhetoric".

Creative Scotland will be formed by the merger of the current main funder of the arts in Scotland, the Scottish Arts Council (SAC), and the screen agency Scottish Screen.

The transition process involves the SAC and Scottish Screen, each with its own chief executive, their joint board with its own chairman Richard Holloway, the transition team led by Ms Bonnar, and a new limited company, Creative Scotland which is chaired by Ewan Brown.

It is hoped the final version of Creative Scotland will appear in 2010.

Last night Professor Philip Schlesinger, head of the centre for cultural policy research at Glasgow University, said that the frequent use of consultancy firms had become a "reflexive need" for companies undergoing change. He described the transition process as "disappointingly disorderly."

"The picture is extremely confusing and the risk is that because it has taken so long, any confidence in the final result will be lost," he said.

A spokeswoman for the transition team said: "Any change project is complex and a range of specialist expertise is required."

She confirmed that consultants Liddell Thomson had acted as strategic advisers and for "communications advice". Mike Kidd Associates and John Knell have been employed for research, Lettoch Associates for "planning support", Miles Harrison for "staff workshops", David Teasdale for "financial modelling" and Deloitte Touche for "organisational structure modelling".

The Tom Fleming Consultancy was employed to work with John Knell, and the Hays Group to supply staff to "support the financial modelling and project management." There has been legal advice and "premises options" advice.

A senior figure close to the merger told The Herald: "For all the money being spent on consultants, someone could have made a hell of a lot of artistic productions. The key question is: when is all this going to end? There is no end in sight. We won't see Creative Scotland until 2010. The final result appears to be about as accessible as nirvana."

The spokeswoman added: "Considerable work was undertaken during the first six months of this year in exploring the role of Creative Scotland in relation to partners and in key areas, including international, learning and skills, widening access and its role in the creative industries, as well as preparation for harmonisation of operations and systems across Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen.

"We have also considered the organisation of Creative Scotland's resources, including options for an organisational structure.