'Ping-pong policies' slated as Inverness jobs head for city

Published on Monday 29 January 2007 11:52

CIVIL service jobs in Inverness are set to be transferred to Edinburgh - after hundreds of public sector posts went the opposite way.

Union leaders today branded the plans "perverse" and hit out at politicians' "ping-pong policies".

And MSPs said it proved there was no coherent approach to the question of jobs dispersal.

The forced transfer of the Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) base from the Capital to Inverness plunged the Scottish Executive into a massive, ongoing controversy over its relocation policy.

Ministers defended the policy as benefiting the Highlands despite an estimated cost of 27 million. But now unions claim the UK Government's drive to reduce civil service numbers will see tax jobs in Inverness transferred to Edinburgh or Glasgow by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

Lynn Henderson, political officer with the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, said: "Whatever happened to joined-up government? It is perverse that while Scottish ministers are striving to relocate civil service jobs out of Edinburgh, UK departments are planning the exact opposite.

"These ping-pong policies between different arms of government are to the detriment of our members' jobs and local services they provide to the public."

The PCS said it believed 50 jobs in Inverness were likely to be affected, along with 90 in Dundee and 120 in Glenrothes, where the union claims the tax office is earmarked for closure.

It said posts from the Glenrothes office would be moved to Edinburgh, but many staff were low-paid and would be unable to commute because of travel costs.

The union said many tax staff in Inverness would not move south because of family - just as most SNH employees in Edinburgh decided against the transfer to Inverness for similar reasons.

First Minister Jack McConnell officially opened the new SNH HQ in October, just days after a highly critical report by Audit Scotland.

Consultants ranked Inverness fifth of five potential locations but the Executive ordered the move despite opposition from unions, staff, MSPs and the SNH board.

Lothians Green MSP Mark Ballard said: "I support calls for a moratorium on all relocations, whether from Edinburgh or to Edinburgh, until we have some kind of coherent, consistent policy. To move SNH jobs from Edinburgh to Inverness, or HMRC jobs from Inverness to Edinburgh, disrupts the lives of employees, their partners and their children.

"It massively disrupts the operation of organisations because people are often unwilling or unable to make the move. Although it may fulfil some bean-counter's idea of efficiency, the human cost and cost to the service may outweigh any benefit."

An HMRC spokesman said that as part of the UK Government's drive to cut civil service numbers, tax offices and staff numbers were being rationalised. As well as job cuts, some posts and work would be switched from one office to another. But he said no final decisions had been made about particular offices and there would be extensive consultation on plans.

He confirmed the Inverness office was set to be reduced from 119 jobs to 70 by 2010 and Dundee due to be cut from 938 to 850. But he claimed the HMRC's offices in Glenrothes and Dunfermline were together scheduled for a reduction from 174 to 150 and it was "unlikely" that either would close.