The SNP government announced yesterday it will scrap the relocation policy of the preceding government where civil servants were moved out of Edinburgh.
The Scottish capital saw over 2,000 government jobs "dispersed" away in recent years, with further employee relocations planned for Registers of Scotland, Creative Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council.
The decision in 2003 to relocate Scottish Natural Heritage's H.Q. from Edinburgh to Inverness cost more than £20 million to move a third of the 270 workforce.
"Relocation policy to date has not achieved the benefits intended - wide job dispersal or assisting the areas most in economic need. A great deal of money, time and effort has been spent on moving organisations, incurring significant cost to business continuity and to staff," said John Swinney, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth.
"The Government's approach will mean that relocation is still an option, but it will only happen after a rigorous and transparent process that shows there are efficiencies for Scotland. I can guarantee there will be no relocation if it would lead to compulsory redundancies. We will instead give priority to value for money by re-using suitable parts of Government estate and to identifying cost-effective solutions."
Mind yer assets
The decision follows last year's Asset Management Review which identified ways of improving the running of the government estate.
The Review found two thirds of the agencies, non-departmental public bodies and other associated bodies surveyed do not have an asset management plan or strategy in place and there is no single IT system that holds data about the whole estate.
The Scottish Government currently occupies 709 buildings occupying an area of 2,416 hectares. The total capital value of Government assets is £157.6 million and rent is the largest single element of running costs.
Related link: Scottish Government: Asset Management Review