The relocation of Scottish Natural Heritage caused uproar

Deputy Finance Minister George Lyon confirmed 215 jobs would be moved from Edinburgh as part of the executive's jobs dispersal policy.

The agencies are Creative Scotland, the Legal Complaints Commission, the Police Complaints Commissioner, the Charity Appeals Panel and a development group.

All are either new bodies or are being set up to replace existing groups.

Earlier relocation plans have caused controversy.

Only 50 of 240 Scottish Natural Heritage staff moved to Inverness when SNH was moved from Edinburgh.

Mr Lyon told MSPs that lessons were learned from the SNH relocation which cost �21m.

JOB RELOCATION PLANS Creative Scotland - 130 jobs Legal Complaints Commission - 60 jobs Police Complaints Commissioner - 10 jobs Co-operative Development Agency - 10 jobs Charity Appeals Panel - 5 jobs

The relocation of 1,000 jobs at the property Registers office at Meadowbank in Edinburgh has been put on hold, pending an efficiency review.

Since devolution almost 4,000 executive jobs have been reviewed and 2,834 jobs relocated across Scotland.

Mr Lyon said: "As with all our reviews, we will take account of the business needs of each organisation as well as the socio-economic benefits for each of the areas shortlisted for relocated posts.

"The policy has a clear aim - to spread government jobs and the benefits they bring to other parts of Scotland.

"We are achieving this aim and creating significant social and economic benefits for communities, from Tain to Tiree, and across Scotland.

"We are proud of our record to date and will continue drive the policy forward."

Affluent locations

The Scottish National Party's finance spokesman John Swinney pointed out that organisations had relocated to affluent city centre locations.

"That doesn't strike me as a process that's going to kick start economic development," he said.

Green finance spokesman Mark Ballard spoke out about the affect on workers if their jobs were being considered for relocation.

And he pointed out that the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCSU) had called for a moratorium on the moves.