A REPORT today condemned the Scottish Executive's controversial relocation policy as a "blunt instrument" which had failed to deliver a true dispersal of government jobs throughout Scotland.
The verdict from Scottish Parliament's audit committee echoed the concerns of the Evening News campaign to stop the relentless transfer of civil service and quango posts out of Edinburgh.
The MSPs' damning report - written after they quizzed Envi
ronment Minister Ross Finnie and top civil servant Sir John Elvidge - concluded the £30 million transfer of Scottish Natural Heritage from Edinburgh to Inverness did not provide value for money.
They said the arguments put forward by Mr Finnie did not justify the decision. And they said one way of helping deprived areas without taking jobs away from the Capital would be to relocate organisations to the poorer parts of Edinburgh. It highlighted that more than half the 2432 jobs to leave the Capital so far have simply been moved to Glasgow.
The report, agreed unanimously by the cross-party committee, said the methodology for deciding on relocations was "flawed and inconsistent" and decisions had taken far too long. It also said the Executive had failed to provide clear explanations of the reasons for choosing each location despite giving an undertaking to do so.
Committee convener Brian Monteith said: "The principles of the Executive's relocation policy attracted widespread support but concerns have emerged over the way in which it has been put into practice. The methodology used by the Executive to decide on the relocation of organisations has proved a blunt instrument which has failed to deliver a true dispersal of jobs throughout Scotland."
In its recommendations, the committee said the Executive must:
• define the objectives of the policy more clearly
• be more sensitive and strategic in identifying organisations to be considered for relocation
• ensure the process is more consistent, transparent and rapid
• make sure a true pattern of dispersal is achieved
• ensure the policy is thoroughly evaluated.
Most reviews have been prompted by a lease-break on an organisation's offices, but the committee described that as "too simplistic" a trigger, which does not allow a strategic overview.
The report criticised the Executive for claiming it was too early to assess the benefits of relocation to places which had received jobs, while at the same time insisting there had been no damage to Edinburgh from losing them. It said the policy should not assume organisations based in Edinburgh will move.
Last year, First Minister Jack McConnell argued removing public sector jobs from Edinburgh helped the private sector to grow.
But the committee argued some organisations are best located in Edinburgh so they can work with the parliament or partner organisations. And it said poorer areas within the city should be assessed on the same basis as potential locations elsewhere in Scotland.
Susan Deacon, Labour MSP for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh and a member of the committee, called for a fundamental rethink of the policy. She said: "This report is a damning indictment of the Executive's approach, but there is an opportunity here, if the Executive wants to grasp it, to listen to what a growing number of voices are saying about the flaws in this policy and adopt a fundamentally different approach in the future."
And she welcomed the idea of moving jobs to poorer areas of the Capital, adding: "Imagine the powerful signal it would send if you had a major national agency's headquarters move from George Street to Craigmillar. It would tick just as many boxes as moving from Edinburgh to the east end of Glasgow, but it doesn't have all the disruption, fewer staff would leave and the costs would be less."
Margaret Smith, Liberal Democrat MSP for Edinburgh West and also on the committee, said the fact Edinburgh was doing well economically did not mean all areas of the city were doing well.
"Bringing a national body to Muirhouse, for example, would be a massive boost to that area," she said. "If you took an organisation from the city centre and put it in an area of deprivation, that might mean you had cheaper rents and it would bring a certain amount of prestige to an area you are trying to regenerate."
How we've kept track of the relocation fiasco
THE Scottish Executive adopted its controversial relocation policy in 1999. Since then:
• 38 organisations with nearly 4000 posts have been reviewed.
• 2432 jobs have been moved out of the Capital.
• Another 1001 are due to move out of Edinburgh soon.
• Plans to move another 260 are in the pipeline.
• 54 per cent of the jobs that have left Edinburgh have only moved along the M8 to Glasgow.
The full article contains 786 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
