Fresh doubts have been raised over the future of Creative Scotland, the Scottish government's new publicly funded arts agency, after a series of public figures attacked its rationale and financing.

The criticisms came after revelations in The Times yesterday that the cost of setting up the new body, which will amalgamate the Scottish Arts Council with Scottish Screen, has soared to £7million - ten times the original estimate.

Leading figures in the arts world said that concerns over the figure, which has not been disclosed to the Scottish Parliament, and financing arrangements were symptomatic of a wider problem.

Philip Schlesinger, professor of cultural policy at Glasgow University, said that Creative Scotland's purpose and function had never been properly examined since the body was first mooted in 2003 by Mike Watson, then Culture Minister in the Labour-Lib Dem Executive.

“There hasn't been proper debate in Parliament about this,” Professor Schlesinger said. “We are working from a policy which has been inherited from new Labour and become part of the bloodstream of the Parliament and the Executive.

“We are at the 11th hour and the 59th minute ... and we still need to know what Creative Scotland stands for. It's not been subject to enough public debate in terms of purpose.”

Malcolm Chisholm, Labour's culture spokesman, questioned whether Parliament had been misled over the cost and called on Linda Fabiani, the SNP Culture Minister, to clarify The Times's report. “We have to find out the truth about this. It is scandalous if the SNP administration has been telling Parliament one thing while the reality is so different. There seems to be a very wide gap between what has been stated publicly and what has been stated privately,” he said.

Even supporters of the Culture Bill, which establishes Creative Scotland and was defeated at Holyrood on its first reading, were bemused by the government's failure to detail exact costs. The new body is due to become operational next year and administer a fund of £70million.

Donald Smith, director of the Scottish Storytelling Centre, said that he was dismayed by the rising costs and baffled by the lack of clarity. “There is no rationale for the merger of these two bodies,” he said. “Scottish Screen and the Scottish Arts Council are very different styles of body with different objectives.

“There must only be change for a purpose. The vagueness of what was delivered in Parliament and what we have heard so far is disconcerting. Everybody needs a route map.”

Despite qualified support for a the new arts body from some quarters of the arts world, opposition to Creative Scotland from the film industry seems certain to remain strong.

Many influential figures believe that an independent agency that lobbies exclusively for the screen industries remains an important promoter of the Scottish economy, and one that is seen as essential in competing countries, such as England and Ireland.

Leading figures said that burying Scottish Screen within Creative Scotland would reduce its effectiveness.the Edinburgh-based film producer Leslie Hills described the proposed agency as “a bloody disaster”. She added: “Funding for film in Scotland is worse than most English regions. I am extremely concerned that if the figure of £7 million is right, there will be a hiatus of several years, which will drain resources. That would mean we will lose a generation of young talent who will go elsewhere to work.”

A spokeswoman for the Creative Scotland transition project said that there was growing interest in the funding of the body since the Culture Bill was voted down. “Everyone involved in the process recognises the challenges involved in estimating costs when key variables are still in development, while balancing our commitment to transparency and due process,” she said. “There is continuing extensive financial modelling work with the aim of providing accurate, detailed and robust information on the cost of change. We also recognise how important it is to the confidence of Creative Scotland's future clients.”

A spokesman for the Scottish government said that it remained “one hundred per cent” behind the body. “The minister asked the Creative Scotland transition team to present detailed financial information on the costs of transition. This information is expected in due course.”

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