Source · Select Committees · Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Recommendation 3
3
Acknowledged
Clarify ministerial commitments for working outside London, or issue revised, realistic regional ambitions.
Recommendation
The Government has made high-profile commitments that Ministers would spend significant working time in regional offices—though without clearly explaining what value this was meant to deliver. To date, Ministers have not been able to meet this commitment, making flying visits rather than basing themselves outside London for significant amounts of time to conduct substantive work. The responsible Minister himself suggested a good reason for this: ministerial work is closely linked to Parliament and the Cabinet, and long travel times make it impractical for Ministers to spend very significant working time away from Westminster. The Government should either live up to its public commitment for Ministers to spend more time working outside the capital, or issue a revised ambition with an accurate statement of what Ministers can actually commit to. This should extend to the Government’s purpose in building Cabinet meeting rooms in two of its new Hubs, and the Cabinet Office should include in its response to this report details of when the Cabinet plans to meet in Edinburgh and Cardiff. (Paragraph 33) 48 Where Civil Servants Work: Planning for the future of the Government’s estates
Government response summary AI-generated
The government acknowledges the difficulty of balancing ministerial duties in London with the commitment to spend time in regional offices. They state that ministers have visited staff in central Government hubs and that facilities are available for ministers in key locations, but that the planning of Cabinet meetings outside of London must balance benefits with ministerial availability and the use of taxpayers' money. For security reasons, they do not announce when and where these meetings will take place.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government · verbatim extract
Acknowledged
15. This is a difficult area as the Minister for the Cabinet Office made clear in his evidence session.
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