Staying put
Quietly, without fuss, Scottish Ministers have dropped a key aspect of their predecessors鈥 programme in government. .
Yes, yes, I know. The Finance Secretary John Swinney stresses that relocation remains 鈥渁n option鈥. (See below) But it is an option he is unlikely to exercise all that frequently.
The was championed by the former First Minister, Jack McConnell.
Snag is the strategy didn鈥檛 deliver 鈥 or, at least, , the spending watchdog.
Reporting in 2006, they said there was insufficient evidence to indicate that relocation had been good value for money.
Mr Swinney goes further today, arguing that a 鈥済reat deal of money, time and effort鈥 has been spent for relatively little return.
Relocation there will be in future 鈥 but only when it tallies with the strategy to make better use of existing properties. And there must be no compulsory redundancies.
Further, small units may still be dispersed to rural and remote areas 鈥 where the gain is disproportionate.
, despatched from Edinburgh to Inverness against a background of wailing staff? Those are over.
There is, of course, one exception already in process. The 鈥 although a substantial hub will remain in the capital.
Sceptics might suggest that decision owed much to the need to depict the future sporting set-up as a brave new world 鈥 rather than merely a U-turn from a manifesto pledge which ministers had come to regret.
I'm 
Comments
Sorry Brian but this is a pretty boring blog.
Why not mention Lib Dem councilors fighting with eachother over the Planning committees in Aberdeenshire.
Or the dopey Labour guy on the front page of the Sunday's condeming the first minister only to find out it was at his own party's bequest.
Or the windfarm proposal
The schools earmarked in Leaked Documents for closure
The Fire brigade in Dundee
Loads o stuff worth jabbering about.
Good decision.
I know of several examples, where the staff were to be moved hundreds of miles squealing and consequently, most of them didn't. Fine for the locals picking up well-paid government jobs, but what about all that expertise lost, simply for a piece of dogma?
I'm all for providing good jobs around the country, but let's do it sensibly.
I think that is a shame. Keeping civil service jobs crammed in Edinburgh simply adds to the hearing of the local housing market. Far better to have the jobs dispersed and spread the income around. Of course, it is painful in the short term but right in the long term
Almost gone is West Coast Jack鈥檚 policy of stealing jobs from the East merely to seed them into his or one of his 鈥榠nner circle鈥檚 West Coast Nurseries; what we still have is a West Coast bias in respect of the selective reversal of centralisation and downgrading of facilities within the NHS.
Taxpayers and citizens in West Fife still suffer and will continue to suffer to a greater degree whilst Fife Council are permitted to continue with their persistently selective policies of centralising most services and the NHS services in particular into Glenrothes and Kirkcaldy.
It makes the SNP's manifesto a useless piece of paper.
They haven't wiped out my student debt, the refuse to pass wind farms whilst being opposed to nuclear. No police, shoddy university funding commitments, no firm business rate promise. Shocking that a tax rate is being used as a bargaining tool for votes - who is playing fast and loose with the economy now?
Its time this government grew up and starting taking decisions for the future and not for the short term. I cant see the SNP administration survive for long.
And what rubbish they speak when they say the economy could be at risk if parliament votes down the budget. Vote down the budget and we get a government worthy of the Scottish people. Labour needs to return and will do.
Coupled with their support for a republic and the breaking of the Union.
So much for making sure the North East gets a "fair share" then.
What's Richard Lochhead got to say about this ? He was quick to demand more government jobs for Aberdeen while he was in opposition. All gone quiet over there ?
I'm disappointed with this decision. It is absolutely correct that the benefits of public sector work is shared across Scotland. The job market in Edinburgh is such that staff turnover leads to poor quality work and over inflated costs. Awareness of certain issues especially around deprivation are NOT appreciated in Edinburgh at all; people in the Borders and the Islands pay tax so should be entitled to a share in the jobs that are created from it. Also, spread the jobs means a more balanced housing market, less traffic congestion in the cities, more balance to the economy. If London spread out the UK jobs as well there would be less complaining about London housing prices, transport costs, 5th runway at Heathrow and so on. Perhaps Audit Scotland needs to consider alternative measurements for evaluating the longer term benefits and opportunity costs.
Could this decision having anything to do with staff of Audit Scotland wanting to remain based in Edinburgh? Surely not..
Could this decision having anything to do with staff of Audit Scotland wanting to remain based in Edinburgh? Surely not..
#5 Ricky, you need to take off those rose tinted specs. The last thing Scotland needs right now is the return of Scottish Labour. We still have the slowest economic growth in europe, the lowest life expectency, the highest teenage birth rate (coupled with the high STDs that always follow young teenagers have unprotected sex), need I go on. These are all legacies that years of Labour government have left us with.
As to you criticisms of broken promises, remember it was your beloved Labour party who is forcing this government to spend 500 million on Edinburgh trams rather than fund extra police, cut student debt, increase university funding, etc. They were more interested in scoring political points than doing what was right for the people of Scotland. Yet you claim it's the SNP that needs to grow up! Just look at Wendy claims that she'll be exonerated of any (knowingful) wrongdoing (does she have an insider track to the Electoral commision? Isn't a big Labour donor a senior member?) and big Jackie Baillie's claims that Wendy would stay on as Labour leader even if found guilty of breaking the law. Doesn't that demonstrate exactly why Scotland is so much better off without such corrupt politicians in power?
I am NOT a Labour supporter but their SHOULD be a very fair and equal share of public sector jobs to major cities in Scotland.
Dundee for example does appallingly in terms of its share of government jobs.
What will the SNP offer for a city already beset with major job losses in the past few years?
I campaigned hard for a SNP win at national and Scottish election and I want something from the SNP in return - JOBS.
Answers please?
Don't listen to Dan ! I always think it is significant when politicians have to back track on promises when 'reality' gets in the way. [See today's comments from Lord Darzi about 'single-sex hospital accommodation']
To be honest, technology is going to make this fad for relocation a dream anyway.
Jeff Duncan mentions Dundee. Well many of the people in that area could be given jobs in Edinburgh where they could commute for 3 days a week, but work from home, via a computer on Mondays and Fridays.
By all means move some offices to Dundee if needs be - but there are some quick fixes which could help the situation far more quickly & cheaply.
Yes Brian, this "revalation" fits in nicely with your "hidden" agenda to denigrate the ruling party.
However, it wont wash! Where are all the stories about the opposition parties you have carefully not covered-take the libdems and the Aberdeen byepass shenanigans for example? Of the numpty cretins bumping their gums over the Aviemore development, which was shot down in flames after it was revealed that one of the numpties herself had demanded Alex Salmond do something?
No, Brian, your agenda is plain for all to see, and the mere fact of its existence demeans the profession which you "profess" to occupy!
Publish, anyone?
i want relocation for these quangos all right! Preferably to Delhi or Islamabad. I hope sport scotland (or whatever they call it) gets a greatly reduced budget ringfenced to grass roots. No money for elite athletes please, and fire all the bureaucrats-Let sponsors/lottery pay for them. What?Can't get sponsorship? Tough! Who cares about a gold medal in curling or tiddlywinks? Nobody, except the self serving sport hierarchy.
What is needed is not a wholesale move of a department, but the transfer of many of the lower-level administrative tasks to rural parts of Scotland, linked by high-speed internet links.
Much of the work of these departments involves paperwork, effectively, and that is more and more going into computers, either as text or database entries.
Writing letters to the public can be done on a computer in Caithness just a easily as in Edinburgh, and seldom needs technical expertise to do it. The completed letter can be downloaded back to the department for approval and sending out; but perhaps sent out from elsewhere?
This move is a shame.. we all pay our taxes and all parts of the country deserve to get the economic benefit of Government employment.
This is more to do with boosting Edinburghs's status as a Capital city, after all you can't be the Capital of an independent country and have all the government jobs elsewhere, can you? That just wouldn't do
I support the transfer of government jobs to parts of Scotland where the jobs and the reasonable salaries are needed.
I can understand though that the benefits are not immediately apparent.
The thing is I have always bleated on about how London hang on to civil service jobs at the expense of other parts of the UK.
I have to satify myself with the firm belief that when independence comes along we can then divert the tax, DVLA and social security jobs to the likes of Dumfries, Dundee and Skye.
I think this is a real shame. Scotland remains completely dominated by the so-called 'central belt', a clique of mutually obsessed Glasgow and Edinburgh public schoolboys. This is what worries me about independence. Will Dundee, the Highlands, North East, etc. really be any better off with these types in sole control of the country? Obviously there should be more government jobs moved outwith Edinburgh AND Glasgow, not just shunted between them depending on which part of the clique is in charge. This also applies to the media, who seem to think that nothing exists beyond the M8.
Oh what drivel has been written here, Brian does a good job on the whole.
There are those who spout facts that are hearsay.
The cost of shifting that outfit to Inverness was ridiculous all that happened was a number of staff who did not want to go lost their jobs only to find new ones within the system within days of collecting their redundancy.
That quango should have been left where it was and gutted, along with the rest, any audit would reveal incompetency theft and fraud.
Sepa, Scottish Water, are two that recently have been found to be incompetent, a close look at the rest should be at the forefront of the Governments program.
The Information Commissioner set up in St Andrews with 11 staff and he has managed to stand on many toes within Local and Scottish Government Departments.
So can we get Professor Black and Audit Scotland to work on our behalf now not in 3 years time when an election is due.
Brian, what's the score on the (alleged) Kuenssberg donation to Wendy's election campaign.
Gives a different slant to "Aviemoregate" don't you think?
Let's have your thoughts, and don't plead a prior engagement stops you blogging--the game at Tynecastle is OFF!
I kinda agree with this move, Certainly every region in scotland pays taxes and therefore should see benefits for those taxes however for smaller rural towns, the gains from adding government jobs locally will just cost the tax-payer more due to losses in efficiency and lack of qualified staff members. Its all a nice dream to spread the wealth but the reality is few government departments are stand alone entities, where possible and practical movement to Dundee Inverness aberdeen even Glasgow should occur, but not movement for movements sake. That would cost the taxpayer considerable sums which then would not be able to be spent in the communities we hoped to improve with the initial move.
Smaller more effective government is what Scotland needs.