One in seven jobs at risk as squeeze begins

ONE in seven core civil-service jobs in the Scottish Government is to be cut under plans to deal with the spending squeeze being imposed on Scotland by the UK Treasury.

Scotland's mandarins are planning to reduce the 4,200-strong central civil-service to just 3,600 - the lowest staffing level since devolution was established, The Scotsman can reveal.

The emergence of the plans last night angered civil-service unions and provoked a political row as the Nationalist Scottish Government blamed Westminster for forcing Scotland's hand. The proposed job cuts were revealed in secret, internal civil-service papers obtained by The Scotsman.

They show that to achieve the staff cuts, there is a plan to order an immediate recruitment freeze for the core civil-service in Scotland.

And they expose a rift between ministers and Sir John Elvidge, the head of the civil service, over the SNP's insistence on there being no compulsory redundancies. In a minute to colleagues, Sir John warns ministers this policy is a "blunt instrument" and that it could mean that the "wrong staff leave".

The document, marked "restricted", was written less than a month ago by Thea Teale, head of human resources at the Scottish Government. In it, she sets out plans for job losses aimed at saving £36.5 million over three years to the People, Business and Innovation Group (PBIG), which oversees staffing matters.