The Alberta NDP government spends almost $1 million a year on issues managers, partisan staff who identify and manage political issues in the premier's office.

The opposition is worried about waste and work duplication, but the government insists the staffers play an important role.

Matt Williamson, deputy director of communications for Premier Rachel Notley, said issues managers help the government ensure Albertans get "reliable information."

He denied they act as the premier's spin doctors.

"We don't see it that way at all," he said. "We see it as an important role that all governments have in providing accurate information. And often what is said by politicians in opposition is inaccurate, it can be inaccurate, and in those cases it is important to correct the record."

The issues management unit has a director, an assistant director and six managers. Their salaries total $925,000.

Seven of the eight people in the unit were hired from outside Alberta. Unlike public affairs officers, who are non-partisan, issues managers have NDP connections and their contracts are posted on the government website with those of other political staff.

Issues managers are most visible when reporters conduct interviews with cabinet ministers or opposition MLAs as they head into the assembly for question period. They monitor the scrums with portable audio recorders, often at the same time as ministers' press secretaries.

The Alberta government is facing calls to cut spending in the face of a $10.4-billion deficit. But Williamson said issues managers play an important role in government by countering incorrect information from opposition politicians.

"In those cases, it is important to ensure there are government resources to ensure that accurate information is communicated," he said.

Prior to coming to Alberta, Williamson was the press secretary for former Manitoba premier Greg Selinger. He said issues managers operated the same way in Selinger's office.

The Alberta government also employs public affairs officers, communications staff who are non-partisan members of the civil service.

Then there's the public affairs bureau, long criticized as the politicized communications arm of the previous Progressive Conservative regime.

The PAB has continued under the NDP, led by Mark Wells, the Alberta NDP's former director of communications.

The work done by issues managers was moved out of the public affairs bureau and into the premier's office, Williamson said. The PAB now employs 44 people.

Nathan Cooper, the Wildrose MLA for Olds-Didsbury-Three HIlls, is concerned over the growth of the issues management unit over the past year.

He questioned deputy premier Sarah Hoffman about the unit during a review of budget estimates for executive council and the premier's office last week.

"If issues managers were dealing with complaints from Albertans, that would be one thing," Cooper told CBC News.

"But issues managers inside the premier's office are likely dealing with political challenges and not actual concerns of Albertans. It's not a step in the right direction."

Cooper is also concerned the issues managers are duplicating work done by other communications staff within government and the public affairs bureau.

Williamson said that isn't the case. The nonpartisan staff deal with operational issues and political staff handle the political issues.

He said the Notley government has the same number of political staff as the previous PC government under Jim Prentice, and fewer than when Alison Redford was premier.

According to figures provided by Williamson, between 2010 and 2014 approximately 100 people worked in the public affairs bureau. This included department communications directors, assistant directors and public affairs officers.

That dropped to 68 employees in 2014-15, when public affairs officers and assistant directors were transferred out of the PAB and into the ministries.

The communications directors joined their colleagues in the ministries the following year, leaving 40 people in the PAB. There were two unfilled vacancies.

In the upcoming fiscal year, the government plans to fill the two vacancies plus two positions moved to the PAB for intergovernmental relations, Williamson said. Executive council is now responsible for intergovernmental relations.