Property transfers within the Scottish public sector

The paper aims to explain the way the Scottish Executive, Scotland's devolved administration, transfers surplus property between its Departments, agencies and non‐departmental public bodies, which differs from the approach in England.

The paper draws on government documents and professional standards to explain the revised administrative mechanism and the reasons for the way in which it is designed.

The paper explains the benefits the system is designed to bring about and its limitations.

The paper is a professional practice paper designed to help practitioners who may be involved in such transfers of property, and to inform researchers in the field of public sector asset management of a new development designed to improve the efficiency of property transfer in the Scottish Executive's part of the public sector.

The paper will be of interest to practitioners involved in the transfer of public sector assets in Scotland, and those applied researchers with an interest in public sector asset management.