Robison said it had been decided not to pursue the decision to move the headquarters of NHS Health Scotland (HS), NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (QIS), and NHS Education for Scotland (NES) from their bases in Edinburgh after it was revealed that the move would cost around £22m. 

Following a location review in July 2005 the three special Health Boards had been advised that their Head Office functions should be transferred from Edinburgh to Glasgow, where they would be alongside NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) staff already based in Glasgow.  

Speaking ahead of the NHS Health Scotland Annual Review Robison said it had been decided that the £22m cost of relocation was not the best use of resources and will be better invested in frontline services.  

She continued: "To pursue the decision to move the HQs of three NHS Boards would cost around £22m. We believe that this is not the best use of resources during what will be a tight financial settlement period. £22m will be better invested in front line services and in tackling health inequalities - a particularly big challenge in the city of Glasgow. 

"It is also the case that staff at these organisations have faced more than two years of uncertainty about the future location of their jobs.  

"The new Scottish government did not want the Boards to go through another round of annual reviews without the issue of their future HQ location plans being resolved.” 

Robison also confirmed today that existing NSS Glasgow-based staff would remain in Glasgow. 

"Today I am able to remove any uncertainty by announcing that the HQ functions of HS, QIS and NES will remain in Edinburgh and that Glasgow-based NSS staff - as well as the Glasgow-based staff of the other three boards - will continue to be based in Glasgow. 

"This decision was very much based on the specific operational needs of the Boards concerned and the considerable saving in financial resources that can be better used on front line health services."

Welcoming the announcement, Aileen Stewart, UNISON’s Scottish Healthcare Branch Secretary, said: “UNISON has fought against this unnecessary and expensive policy for a number of years and even up until last week continued to lobby the current Cabinet Secretary. We are pleased that our campaign has been successful.”

However, she added that the UNISON campaign was based on the impact of these particular relocations rather than on a policy of opposition to relocation.

She continued: “In these specific cases relocation of already widely dispersed NHS services made little sense, and threatened disruption to the service and expense, increased travel times and potential job loss for staff.”