Plans to move civil servants out of London show 'striking' lack of detail, MPs warn

The cross-party group of MPs warned that a “striking” lack of information on the policy makes it hard to say whether the target is “sufficiently ambitious, or indeed realistic”.

It also warned that there was very little analysis provided on how the closure of many civil service offices across Yorkshire and the wider country will impact those communities where they are based.

Ministers aim to open 30 regional “hubs” around the UK in cities around the country while closing older regional offices as part of a target to relocate 22,000 civil service jobs away from London by 2030, just under a fifth of the total headcount.

The report warned that the Government has not provided adequate analysis on the economic impact on towns which have lost offices and the cities that have gained them.

Yorkshire has benefited somewhat from the programme, with around 1,800 more civil servant roles based in Leeds and Sheffield across a number of departments.

However, since 2016, the region has seen offices close in Harrogate, Bradford, Leeds, Shipley, York, Grimsby, Hull, Sheffield and Barnsley, with MPs warning that not enough work has been done to assess what impact this will have on the local economy.

In March the Government announced that 11,000 of the 22,000 target for relocations had been achieved, with it being assumed that the numbers of civil servants in London would have to fall in order to reach that target.

However, with the numbers in the capital continuing to increase, the Cabinet Office confirmed that its plan is not to reduce the number of civil servants in London, but rather to simply increase the numbers outside of the city.

This means the target is largely being achieved by recruiting new civil servants to vacancies in regional offices rather than moving officials out of Whitehall.

The report said the Government is “essentially relying on a counterfactual narrative that all the posts newly recruited to regional offices… would have been filled in London if not for the programme”.

“This makes external scrutiny of the Government’s self-reported progress difficult,” it added

Commenting on the report, PACAC Chair William Wragg said: “The lack of consistency in relation to relocating Civil Service jobs reveals a vagueness at the heart of a key plank of the Government’s ‘levelling up’ agenda.

“The Cabinet Office has failed to provide a clear account of why certain functions are located where they are, and how relocation and regional hubs will benefit local communities across the country, if at all.”

“While the Government appears to be making steady progress towards its targets and has a number of successes to point to, we have concerns with how those targets were originally arrived at and how progress has been framed thus far.

“There is evidence to show that, since 2010, Civil Service jobs have been created in London faster than anywhere else in the country, with a net decrease of Civil Service jobs created elsewhere in the UK.

“The Government’s latest plans have involved closing long-established regional offices, which can have hard-hitting impacts on local communities.

“This flies in the face of the Government’s ‘levelling up’ agenda. We need greater transparency and accountability of what seems to be a haphazard approach to reforming the Government’s estates and its workforce.”

A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “The Places for Growth programme is helping level up the country by moving over 12,000 roles out of Greater London in its first three years – with new locations in Darlington, Bristol, and Glasgow. “Extensive planning and analysis goes into decisions on new locations, including assessment of value for money, skills and local transport networks. “New hubs are expected to deliver millions of pounds of economic benefits for local areas through increased footfall and spending from staff. Moving civil servants will always encounter opposition but we are determined to deliver.”