Report to the People
1st August 2005
Relocation, Relocation, Relocation
If you can answer the question
"what is good government?" in a sentence, "getting best value for
public money" might be a contender.
One
thing which is certainly not good value is basing your civil service in an
economic hot-spot like Edinburgh. You
spend more on wages, building anything costs a fortune and, with so many jobs
concentrated in such a small area, you have a restricted labour pool from which
to recruit.
In
an age of instant, worldwide communications, there's absolutely no need for this
and the late Donald Dewar was right, back in September 1999, to commit the
Executive "to ensuring that government in Scotland is efficient and
decentralised."
To
be fair, a number of government jobs have already been dispersed around the
country. I would, though, argue
with some of the sites chosen - what was the point in moving Scottish Natural
Heritage to the boomtown of Inverness? And
I make no secret of my displeasure that Greenock - with many suitable locations
and our keen, reliable workforce - has been overlooked.
But
this might change. When Finance and
Public Service Reform Minister, Tom McCabe, visited the other week, we impressed
him with what the town has to offer. And,
with the strong leadership our own Urban Regeneration Company would deliver, we
could seal a deal to bring good, secure jobs to Inverclyde.
If
we pay our fair share of tax to the government, we're entitled to a fair share
of the benefits.
Back to Current Reports to the People
[ HOME ] [ News ] [ Report to the People ] [ Interact ] [ Links ] [ E-Mail ]
[ Copyright ] [ Directgov ] [ Scottish Parliament ]