The Scottish Government has been accused of covering up the cost of its new website.

The accusation has been made by the Scottish Conservatives' chief whip John Lamont.

STV News has learned through a Freedom of Information request that over the past two years the Scottish Government has spent £80,000 on the project.

However, in a subsequent information release the government could not provide a total and estimated cost for the new website which is currently at the beta stage of testing.

The government say this is because the "development of the Scottish Government's new website is one of a number of projects that have been managed and tracked collectively via a shared publishing platform".

They say the website will form part of a "digital ecosystem of common processes and technologies".

The explanation was described as "ludicrous" by Lamont.

He said: "It's ludicrous that the SNP aren't able to provide a clear figure for a project of this size.

"The development of this website has already cost tens of thousands in taxpayers' money and it's only right that we are given an idea of how much the Scottish Government expect this to cost.

"It is likely that they are attempting to mask the figure to avoid any embarrassment on how much money they're actually planning to throw at this."

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said the website will "improve access to public information".

She said: "Value for money and the needs of the user are at the forefront of our work on the new Scottish Government website.

"The new site will improve access to public information, present government work in an understandable way and be optimised to work on a range of digital devices.

"The gov.scot web design is one of a number of projects being managed collectively on a shared publishing platform and we cannot separate the costs of each individual project."