Sportscotland: 'More public money poured down the drain'

THE news that the Government is to spend £250,000 on temporary accommodation for relocated sportscotland staff will lend weight to the argument that the exercise is not only pointless but pouring even more public money down the drain.

When the idea of transferring the body lock, stock and barrel from Edinburgh to Glasgow was first mooted by the previous Labour-Lib Dem government this newspaper was among those that questioned the wisdom behind the move.

Having always opposed the administration's ill-conceived, and expensive, jobs dispersal policy which saw thousands of posts needlessly transferred out of the Capital to other parts of the country, we branded the £15 million exercise as being politically rather than economically or efficiency driven.

It brought some relief before their election defeat that the former administration signalled a halt to further dispersals, but not before the process of moving sportscotland was under way.

The new SNP government brought brief hope that the move might be halted by agreeing to review it but in the end settled for a compromise solution – retaining an Edinburgh hub – which it claimed would cost half as much as the previous plan.

But today it appears there is yet another twist to the tale. The bulk of sportscotland staff will move out not once, but twice, spending three years in temporary accommodation in Glasgow before moving into a permanent purpose-built HQ in three years.

And plans to reduce part of the cost of the exercise by selling off sportscotland's current HQ at the Gyle for around £4m may be shelved, with around 20-30 staff being retained in offices which can house many more.

Although the rationale behind the transfer of jobs is to locate the HQ nearer the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games facilities, neither the previous government nor the SNP have yet been able to present a convincing argument as to how forcing 100 workers – assuming they all wish to transfer – to travel daily down the crowded M8 will be of benefit either to the organisation or to sport.

It has been suggested that the disruption caused, and the likelihood that key staff will leave, is more likely to hinder rather than help the agency deliver at a crucial time for sport in Scotland.

Following an investigation into the previous jobs dispersal programme, including the transfer of Scottish Natural Heritage to Inverness, Audit Scotland concluded that there was no evidence that the policy had delivered any benefit or savings to taxpayers.

It will be interesting to see if in time the SNP allows the sportscotland move to be subjected to the same independent scrutiny, and what the conclusions will be.