The total wage bill for local government in Northern Ireland has soared by £11m despite the number of authorities being cut from 26 to 11.

Northern Ireland's new communities secretary, Paul Givan, said the 11 new super councils, which were created last year, spent a total of £351m on staff and salary costs in their first year of operation while the 26 district authorities they replaced spent £341m in the previous 12 months.