UNITED KINGDOM
Public Service Departments in the UK are be given targets for the number of staff working outside London, the Cabinet Office has revealed.
Chief Executive, John Manzoni (pictured) admitted relocation had been slowed by the continuing crisis over the UK’s exit from the European Union (Brexit) and said the process would be “long term and at the right pace”.
“We are actually going to set targets by Department … in the next few years for senior Civil Servants outside of London,” Mr Manzoni said at an event in the capital outlining the Government’s efforts to implement smarter working.
He said various strands would be brought together to create a big move for senior Civil Servants, which will help to avoid an imbalance where less experienced officials work outside London but more senior officials remain concentrated in the capital.
“What’s really interesting is when you ask the young people, they’re dying to be based outside of London … because of course they can’t afford to live in London,” Mr Manzoni said.
“They’re just dying to create an environment in which they could follow a career somewhere outside of the South East and have a better quality of life.”
He said having a stronger presence in more areas of the UK would have many benefits for the Public Service.
“We all sit here in our South East bubble and we don’t really know … what the rest of the country’s feeling, frankly,” Mr Manzoni said.
The Government plans to move 1,000 PS employees out of London by 2022, and thousands more by 2030.
London, 22 April 2019
