Recommendations & Conclusions
9 items
2
Recommendation
Eighth Report - Where Civil Servants Wo…
Accepted
Publishing details of the rationale and success criteria for a major programme is essential for public transparency and assisting parliamentary scrutiny. This is not only a democratic good in itself; by exposing the justifications for their interventions to scrutiny, departments can hope to strengthen the design of their policies and …
Government response. The Government will publish relevant programme documentation for Places for Growth and the Plan for London, and will refresh the appropriate pages to ensure that purpose, objectives, critical success factors and performance against these are included.
4
Conclusion
Eighth Report - Where Civil Servants Wo…
Accepted
The Cabinet Office has made high-profile statements about the economic benefits to be delivered by Places for Growth, referring to research which supports its estimates. However, it has only just published information about this research, and this information was not written for easy digestion by the general public. This is …
Government response. The government claims that research underpinning the economic benefits of the Places for Growth programme has already been published and that further early-stage analysis of the benefits is scheduled for this financial year. The National Statistician will respond directly to …
5
Recommendation
Eighth Report - Where Civil Servants Wo…
Accepted
The Government is not only relocating posts from London to the regions and nations, but also relocating posts from local offices (often in economically deprived towns) to large regional Hubs (mostly in big cities). We are concerned that the Cabinet Office is not seeking to estimate the net economic impacts …
Government response. The government states that the socio-economic impact of the Hubs Programme is considered for all recent and proposed regional Hubs, and the economic impact on regions as jobs are moved between them or new jobs created is analysed.
7
Conclusion
Eighth Report - Where Civil Servants Wo…
Accepted
In order to do its job effectively, the Government Property Agency needs good quality workforce plans from departments, enabling it to plan for the right size and location of government offices. This has been made more difficult by uncertainties resulting from government policy and communications. On the amount of time …
Government response. The government commits to publishing relevant programme documentation for Places for Growth and the Plan for London.
11
Recommendation
Eighth Report - Where Civil Servants Wo…
Accepted
The Cabinet Office should issue guidance to departments that London should not be ruled out as location for new recruitment, where it is more appropriate for certain posts to be based in the capital. It should also use the Civil Service People Survey to monitor and address evidence of a …
Government response. The government says that it is for departments to determine which roles should be recruited in London and that departmental workforce planning ensures that the right roles are being recruited for in the right locations. They say the Civil Service …
12
Recommendation
Eighth Report - Where Civil Servants Wo…
Accepted
Co-locating officials from different departments within the same regional Hubs potentially offers the opportunity to create collaborative teams, generating new insights and leading to more joined up policy-making. At the same time, past experience suggests that problems may arise from the fact that different departments are individual employers, with their …
Government response. The government states they already promote positive case studies demonstrating the benefits of role relocations and cross-departmental working. They highlight existing co-location initiatives and encourage porosity between departments to facilitate career development. They also argue that potential tensions resulting from …
16
Recommendation
Eighth Report - Where Civil Servants Wo…
Accepted
To increase the impact and rationale of each regional Hub, the Cabinet Office should co-ordinate the local outreach work undertaken by each department’s regional offices (liaising with local authorities, businesses, and third sector stakeholders). The objective should be to systematically improve central government’s understanding of local needs, and the local …
Government response. The Cabinet Office states it is already driving a joined-up approach to local outreach, overseen by Director-level Heads of Place, with regular cross-departmental outreach activities to understand local communities and foster relationships with local stakeholders.
18
Conclusion
Eighth Report - Where Civil Servants Wo…
Accepted
Overall, the Cabinet Office has a number of successes to point to regarding the Places for Growth and Government Hubs programmes. The number of posts allocated to regional offices under Places for Growth is growing rapidly, and HMRC and the GPA have made significant progress in meeting their objectives of …
Government response. The government stated that research underpinning the economic benefits of the Places for Growth programme has already been published, implying the benefits have been demonstrated.
19
Conclusion
Eighth Report - Where Civil Servants Wo…
Accepted
Beyond the specific design and impacts of these programmes, we were struck by what they revealed about the Cabinet Office’s approach to policy-making. The fact that Civil Service relocation has been pursued by several previous governments provides an historical comparison against which this Government’s approach stands out for its lack …
Government response. The government stated that research underpinning the economic benefits of the Places for Growth programme has already been published, responding to the committee's observation about a lack of published research.