Source · Select Committees · Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Recommendation 12
12
Accepted
Paragraph: 79
Promote and report on inter-departmental collaboration in regional Hubs; monitor staff transfers
Recommendation
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 own pay scales for officials below the Senior Civil Service grades. We disagree with the Minister’s assessment that there are no risks to consider here. Instead, we believe this has the potential to both lead to tensions where staff from different departments are co-located, and cause practical issues where staff seek to move between departments within Hubs in pursuit of improved pay and conditions. To help realise the wider potential of the Government Hubs programme, the Cabinet Office and GPA should promote case studies which demonstrate the practical benefits of staff from different departments working together within regional offices. The GPA should report on such case studies, highlighting the practical impacts on policy-making, in its annual reports. The Cabinet Office should also monitor the extent to which staff within regional Hubs transfer between departments, investigating both the reasons for it and the level of disruption this causes to departmental business.
Government Response Summary
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 differing department pay arrangements are already successfully managed.
Paragraph Reference:
79
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
Places for Growth regularly promotes positive case studies demonstrating the benefits of role relocations, including the benefits of cross-departmental working. This will continue to be championed through the ‘Place’ pillar of the Modernisation and Reform (M&R) agenda. Government Hubs are the practical manifestation of bringing departments together in a place to enable collaboration and joint policy development. The Government Property Agency already advocates examples of best practice. In Birmingham, 8 buildings were closed and 1,700 FTE from 20 departments now share a single building with workplace design that supports modern working practices and consistent property technology to enable collaboration. Places for Growth is relocating roles at all grades to ensure that career pathways to the Senior Civil Service exist for civil servants in locations across the UK. Porosity between government departments in a location is encouraged as it highlights the ability for civil servants to develop careers in a place, and to gain a range of experience across multiple departments. The potential tensions resulting from differing department pay arrangements highlighted by the Committee already exist within Whitehall and elsewhere, and continue to be successfully managed by departments.