Highlands in line for jobs boost

The jobs are being described as "semi-skilled"

International tele-servicing company Cap Gemini is to create 700 jobs at an unemployment blackspot in the Highlands.

The development of a customer call centre at the beleaguered Forres Business Park, in Moray, has been officially announced by Highlands and Islands Minister, Alasdair Morrison.

Until now, the park has failed to attract a single occupant since it opened more than a year ago.

The jobs come at a crucial time for Forres, which is near the two Barmac oil fabrication yards at Ardersier and Nigg where hundreds of workers are being made redundant.

It was feared that unemployment levels could have reached 12% in the area.

French-owned Cap Gemini, which already has a strong presence in the north, is opening the call centre to offer support services to customers.

It will require a semi-skilled workforce with specialised training provided by Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

'White elephant'

The 100-acre Forres Business Park has been described as a "white elephant" because of its failure to attract a major business.

Local councillor Rex Mackintosh said the new venture would help offset some of the job losses at the Barmac yards.

Mr Mackintosh said: "Forres Business Park has been in existence now for a number of years, it has been regarded by quite a number as a 'white elephant' and I am delighted to see those doubters are now about to be proved wrong."

Many oil workers are being made redundant

Cap Gemini, which recently merged its operations with the consulting arm of US accountants Ernst and Young, already employs 500 people at call centres in the north of Scotland at Inverness, Dingwall and Nairn.

The economy of the Forres area is heavily dependent on the military, with civilian jobs surpporting about 4,000 service personnnel stationed at two of the three biggest RAF bases in Scotland, RAF Kinloss and RAF Lossiemouth.

The Forres area had been due to lose its development aid status, which would have drastically reduced the amount of taxpayers' money allowed to be spent on creating jobs.

Annual salaries

Most of the 3,000 Barmac redundancies, which will occur over the next three weeks, involve highly-skilled engineering and manufacturing positions, with many workers earning more than £30,000 a year.

By comparison, the "semi-skilled" call centre jobs at Forres will be relatively low paid.

There are already more than 2,000 call centre jobs in the Highlands, notably at Thurso, in Caithness, and the two Easter Ross towns of Alness and Dingwall.