How the Scottish Executive’s policy of relocating public service jobs creates benefits is “unclear” according to Holyrood’s spending watchdog. Audit Scotland found that the impact of moving bodies out of Edinburgh to Glasgow, Inverness and elsewhere had not been properly measured.

By May this year 1,653 public sector jobs had been transferred from the Scottish capital in a bid to spread the benefits of devolution. However, the auditors questioned how any benefit could be measured under the current system.

Robert Black, the auditor general for Scotland, said he was concerned. “The executive has plans to evaluate the impact of the policy, but little had been done to date,” he said. “For that reason it is difficult to determine whether relocations are good value for money. I would encourage the Scottish Executive to define more clearly the measures of success that it is applying to its relocation policy and to develop its plans for evaluating the benefits of relocation.”

The report, which may have wider UK repercussions for other relocation schemes as suggested by the Lyons Review, recommends that measures of success should be clearly set out, so future moves can be monitored against these. In addition, it says ministers should draw up a database of suitable locations for any moves, and should consider prioritising some areas. Audit Scotland also wants there to be clear guidance on the criteria used at the start of the relocation review process and for the reasons behind relocations to be set out.