Scotland Office 'out of touch' on forestry jobs

THE Scotland Office has been accused of being out of touch after it claimed there would be no Scottish job losses resulting from changes to the Forestry Commission in England on the same day 100 job losses were announced by the organisation in Edinburgh.

The embarrassing timing has raised further questions about whether Scotland Office ministers are on top of their brief.

An answer to Scottish Labour MP Cathy Jamieson from Tory minister David Mundell on Thursday said: "Forestry is a devolved matter, and the UK government consider it unlikely that changes to the Public Forest Estate in England would have any consequences for Scottish forestry."

But later that day the commission announced the loss of jobs in Edinburgh.

Ms Jamieson said: "This is shocking. The Scotland Office is either being bypassed on policy implications or was out to lunch while jobs were being put on the line."

A Scotland Office spokesman said: "The parliamentary question was answered after direct consultation with the Forestry Commission in Scotland. It does not mention jobs but refers instead to the continuity of forestry services - it is simply wrong to infer otherwise."