THE wage bill for government press officers in Wales has risen by a massive £200,000 a year.

Since devolution in 1999, the wage bill for press officers at the National Assembly spiralled by at least £242,800.

There were nine press officers serving three ministers in the former Welsh Office but this has soared to 17 officers serving nine ministers in the new administration.

And the government office is about to appoint a new head of communications which pays a whopping £90,000 annual salary.

The lowest paid in the office are now earning between £16,601 and £21,449 compared to between £12,240 and £18,360 in 1998.

Aside from the head officer, the top earners are now getting up to £51,500 - £2,500 more than previously.

And on top of this, the two press people in the presiding officer's department earn a combined salary of nearly £70,000.

There was no cost previously as the positions were created post devolution.

William Graham, Conser-vative AM for South Wales East, said the rise in wages was a "dreadful" waste of taxpayers' money and would be better spent on the health service.

"It's a lot of money spent on political spin," he said. "I will be asking some questions at the assembly because it's too much."

David Davies, Conservative AM and MP for Monmouth, was also appalled. "I think it's absolutely disgusting as the £90,000 could pay for three teachers," he said.

"It is fundamentally wrong that taxpayers are forking out huge sums of money while health service waiting lists are long and schools are shutting down."

Chief press officer Moira Trezise said good communications was a high priority for the Assembly with staff sending out more than 1,000 press releases and responding to more than 5,000 enquiries a year.

"There is now a much greater demand for information from the press and media and the press office provides a service seven days a week and 24 hours a day," she said.

"It is therefore completely misleading to compare the number of press officers working for the Welsh Office in 1999 to the current number working for the Assembly Government now.

"The two organisations are completely different and the scale of change since 1999 cannot be overestimated."

l Last week the Assembly came under fire for refusing to reveal how much it was paying its head of Americas position, based in New York.

The Argus has requested the information under the Freedom of Information Act.