UNITED KINGDOM
The UK Government says it will move thousands of Public Servants out of London by 2030 and distribute them around the country.
The Cabinet Office’s revised Government Estates Strategy names three priorities: using the Government’s property portfolio to drive growth and opportunity, supporting a “brilliant Civil Service”, and delivering value.
The Strategy said that by the end of the current Parliament in 2022, “we will use our estate and the location of our Civil Service to help boost local growth”, but the specific commitment covers a longer period.
“Over the next 12 years, we will create the foundations to locate up to a thousand public sector jobs out of London and the surrounding area as a first step of a major, long-term program which will move many organisations and thousands of jobs, including a full range of professions and senior grades,” the Strategy said.
A spokesperson for the Cabinet Office acknowledged that the wording in the Strategy was ambiguous, but insisted that the aim was for up to 1,000 posts to move before the next planned General Election.
The proposal comes after the ruling Conservative Party’s election manifesto pledged to shift more Government functions and arm’s-length bodies out to the regions.
“We will start moving significant numbers of UK Government Civil Servants out of London and the south-east to cities around the UK,” the Strategy said.
The Strategy, which was prepared by the Cabinet Office’s Office of Government Property, acknowledged that this would require “honest conversations between Departments on what activities need to be based in Whitehall, and which do not”.
“These will set out to build on stronger functional leadership, supported where relevant by the infrastructure provided by Government hubs, and a focus on achieving synergies across Departments to deliver activities such as analysis, communications and business support,” the Strategy said.
London, 14 July 2018
