HIE plan to cut costs by shedding up to 45 jobs angers MSP

Published on Monday 8 February 2010 19:05

UP TO 45 jobs are to be lost at the development agency Highlands and Islands Enterprise as part of a reorganisation.

HIE currently employs 318 full-time equivalent staff and expects to lose 30 to 45 posts, although there will be no compulsory redundancies.

The agency said it would target greater resources towards a number of priority areas of work, while running a voluntary severance scheme with the aim of reducing staff numbers and payroll costs overall.

HIE chairman William Roe said: "By reorganising our workforce, we can reduce our overheads and target more of our budget into direct investment in ambitious businesses and communities across all parts of the Highlands and Islands, including our most fragile areas."

In 2008, a slimming-down of the enterprise agency saw 59 staff take voluntary redundancy and another 150 move to the new body, Skills Development Scotland.

Highlands and Islands Labour MSP Peter Peacock said: "These further job losses come on top of very significant redundancies just a couple of years ago.

"This is another blow to the Highlands and Islands economy and confirms the effect of the SNP government reducing the HIE grant by some 30 per cent between 2007-8 and that for 2010-11, continuing the run-down of an organisation which once had the capacity to help drive improvement for our area."

He added: "At a time when we need more support for businesses in job creation, their capacity is reduced further."

Mr Peacock said HIE had become a "pale shadow of its former self" and called on the government to stop cutting its budget.

Last October, Mr Peacock said figures he obtained from HIE's budget showed that support for its activities had fallen from 101m under the previous Scottish Executive to 59.1m in the current year and was projected to fall further to 54.6m in 2010-11.