Will spreading the wealth of public sector jobs be the right option?

FOR those working for the government in Scotland, it was the most contentious policy conceived by their masters, and the one guaranteed to spark angry debate in pubs and common areas around their offices - relocation.

Over 1,400 public sector jobs have been moved out of Edinburgh and into other parts of Scotland in the last three years under the Scottish Executive’s relocation policy. Thousands more posts will be transferred out of the capital in the near future as the location of more and more organisations comes under review.

While the creation of jobs in locations away from the central belt has been welcomed by many, especially in rural areas, the policy has proved controversial among the workers themselves and the unions representing them.

The most high profile move is that of the headquarters of Scottish Natural Heritage from Edinburgh to Inverness, which should be completed by next March. The executive ordered SNH to move, but a staff survey in February showed that only about 40 out of more than 230 Edinburgh staff say they are prepared to make the move north.

Figures released yesterday by the executive show 4,445 posts at 32 bodies have been reviewed since 2003. A total of 1,424 jobs have already moved, including 218 from the Scottish Public Pensions Agency to Galashiels, 26 from the Executive’s Inquiry Reporters’ Unit to Falkirk and 60 from HM Inspectorate of Education to Livingston.

Decisions have been taken to move another 2,494 posts, including the SNH jobs, six from the Crown Office to Tain; nine from the central enquiry unit to Kinlochleven; eight from the Crofting House Grants Scheme to Tiree and 17 from the NHS Central Registrar to Dumfries. These also include more than 500 jobs from bodies such as the Scottish Arts Council, sportscotland and NHS Education Scotland to locations yet to be decided.

An executive spokeswoman says: "The Executive is committed to ensuring that government in Scotland is efficient and decentralised as part of the wider vision of more accessible, open and responsive Government, and our relocation policy is part of this vision.

"We want to see all areas of Scotland benefit and to ensure that we evenly spread the advantages of devolution and give a boost to areas that need it."

The policy requires a location review when a new unit or agency is established, or if an existing unit is merged or reorganised. The presumption is that it will be located outside Edinburgh.

The SNH move has been controversial since it was decided two years ago. Initially SNH managers resisted the decision, but Ross Finnie, the environment minister, issued a ministerial direction forcing the agency to follow the decision faithfully.

The staff survey showed that, of the 168 who took part, only 23 (14 per cent) said they intended to move to Inverness. Another 11 thought it likely or possible that they would relocate, while a further 17 were "don’t knows".

Last year, the agency said it had set a target of 35 per cent of staff making the move and offered a "golden hello" incentive of 20,000 on top of transfer costs. More than half of those who did not want to relocate said their quality of life would suffer by moving. Others were against transferring because of a partner’s job or because they could not afford to move back to Edinburgh once they had left the capital.

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) had predicted most staff would refuse to transfer and said there were no surprises in the survey results.

Eddie Reilly, the Scottish secretary of the PCS, said at the time that he hoped lessons from the SNH relocation would be learned for the future and that further relocations would be carried out on socio-economic grounds rather than for reasons of political expediency.

Last year, MSPs strongly criticised the relocation of the SNH HQ, saying that the transfer was difficult to understand. While supporting relocation in general, the cross-party finance committee was critical of the executive’s "ad-hoc" approach, particularly the SNH move.

The committee said that some areas of Scotland may have been unfairly excluded from opportunities to benefit from the relocation of public sector jobs.

It also claimed the policy has not had as significant an impact on areas of deprivation as suggested.