Haringey Council spent more than £3 million on its press and publicity department in the last financial year.

This is the eighth highest increase in the country, with a rise of £675,000 on the year before.

The figures, released by the Taxpayers' Alliance reveal the council criticised for its PR approach in the wake of the Baby P case, actually increased its spending by 24.7 per cent in the financial year to April 2008.

In total the council spent £3.4m to April this year and £2.7m the year before, ranking it eighth in the country for the biggest increase.

This figure will not include the £19,000 spent on media training for its staff in order to help them deal with questions about the death of the 17-month-old child in Tottenham.

Chief executive of the government watchdog, Matthew Elliott, said: "It is incredibly disappointing that, despite the economic downturn and the loss of millions in Icelandic Banks, local authorities are still spending nearly half a billion pounds a year on publicity.

"The 225 councils who have increased spending should hang their heads in shame. In the middle of a recession, councils need to cut back on propoganda and spin doctors and deliver savings to taxpayers."

The council defended the sum it spends, which includes the salaries of its 25-strong communications team.

Councillor Matt Cooke, cabinet member for community cohesion and involvement, said: "Residents need to know about council services provided for them, and we have a duty to provide information such as our A to Z of services, meet increasing demands from government to spell out where public money is going, and fulfil our commitment to ensure as many people as is possible can get involved with decision-making.

"All this means we need to communicate more widely and the way we communicate needs to be of ever-improving quality."

The figure includes job advertisments and press notices, as well as the council's own magazine Haringey People, which is delivered to every home in the borough.

Mr cooke added: "It's important to put this amount of money into perspective. The total is under 0.9 per cent of the council's total spending and yet the figure includes all statutory notices, recruitment advertising and public information.

"The council makes a major impact on residents' lives, and we believe it is only right and proper to keep people informed and involved."

Liberal democrat councillor, John Oakes, said: “Mr Cooke told Monday's overview and scrutiny panel that publicity-spend figures were not yet available,no doubt giving Haringey time to prepare either a technical justification for this huge rise, or a totally different figure.

"But it is still the fact that we see Haringey frittering hundreds of thousands of pounds whichout buying residents a single tangible benefit, while it struggles to find money to repaint its zebra crossings."