Source · Select Committees · Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Eighth Report - Where Civil Servants Work: Planning for the future of the Government’s estates
Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
HC 793
Published 27 July 2023
Recommendations
2
Accepted
Para 27
Publish a detailed prospectus and dedicated webpage for Places for Growth and Plan for London.
Recommendation
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 …
Read more
Government Response Summary
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.
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 …
Read more
Government Response Summary
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.
5
Accepted
Publish analyses of economic losses from office closures and benefits in new Hub areas.
Recommendation
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 …
Read more
Government Response Summary
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.
8
Deferred
Para 63
Require Cabinet Office to publish clear policies on civil servant office attendance and headcount reductions
Recommendation
In its response to this report the Cabinet Office should write to us with a definitive statement of government policy on the flexibility civil servants should have on how often they work in the office. Within the same period, the …
Read more
Government Response Summary
The government states it will publish relevant programme documentation for Places for Growth and the Plan for London, but does not provide the requested definitive statements on office working flexibility or clear details on headcount reductions and their impact on office space.
9
Deferred
Commission external review of Government Property Agency's value for money for rental charges
Recommendation
The Cabinet Office has provided a plausible explanation for the GPA’s practice of charging departments rent on offices which the Government owns and has no intention of selling. This answer emphasises the value for money which the GPA is able …
Read more
Government Response Summary
The government stated it will publish relevant programme documentation for Places for Growth and the Plan for London, which does not directly address the recommendation to commission an external review of the GPA's value for money.
11
Accepted
Para 75
Issue guidance on London recruitment for appropriate roles and monitor regional staff engagement
Recommendation
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 …
Read more
Government Response Summary
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 tracks People Survey results closely and that data is publicly accessible, and they will continue to monitor this data as more roles are relocated.
12
Accepted
Para 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 …
Read more
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.
16
Accepted
Para 95
Coordinate local outreach work by regional offices to improve understanding of local needs
Recommendation
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 …
Read more
Government Response Summary
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.
17
Acknowledged
Publish understanding of how official location influences policy advice and development
Recommendation
The Government’s claims for Places for Growth imply that it expects there to be an appreciable difference in mindset between policy officials employed in London and those in regional offices, and a corresponding change to policy. However, the responsible Minister …
Read more
Government Response Summary
The government says Places for Growth will give people from a wider range of backgrounds the opportunity to work in the Civil Service and that the composition of the Civil Service should be as representative of the people it serves as possible. They state a wider analysis of its impact on policy making will be carried out when the Programme is more mature.
Conclusions (10)
1
Conclusion
Acknowledged
Para 26
The Government appears to be making progress towards its target of relocating 22,000 posts by 2030, and steady progress towards a target of reducing the proportion of Senior Civil Service posts based in London to 50% of the total. However, a number of issues with the framing and reporting of …
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges the committee's inquiry and highlights progress made through the Places for Growth and Government Hubs programmes. They state they support enhanced transparency and have accepted recommendations where appropriate.
4
Conclusion
Accepted
Para 42
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 Summary
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 the Committee on the part of the recommendation relating to the Government Analysis Function.
6
Conclusion
Deferred
Para 54
The rationale for the creation of the Government Property Agency was that by taking over the management of all government office buildings it would lead to co- ordinated decision-making and efficiency savings. But with the departments with the biggest office estates remaining outside the GPA’s control, the Government is potentially …
Government Response Summary
The government committed to publishing 'relevant programme documentation for Places for Growth and the Plan for London,' but did not commit to developing the specific guidance for accounting officers as recommended.
7
Conclusion
Accepted
Para 62
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 Summary
The government commits to publishing relevant programme documentation for Places for Growth and the Plan for London.
10
Conclusion
Acknowledged
Para 74
Previous governments which implemented similar programmes of civil service relocation acknowledged the risks and potential disadvantages–for example, significant upfront costs of relocation and redundancy packages, plus a loss of efficiency and coherence from moving policy roles far away from Whitehall. The Government is doing things differently this time–for example, generally …
Government Response Summary
The government states that departments determine which roles should be recruited in London, and review the roles that can be relocated, with a strong bias towards moving senior roles. They say departmental workforce planning ensures the right roles are being recruited in the right locations.
13
Conclusion
Rejected
Para 83
The stagnation of civil service pay poses challenges for retention, recruitment, and morale—and may in some cases lead to real hardship. Moving posts out of the capital, where costs of living are lower and where the Government does not pay a London premium on civil service salaries, has the potential …
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledged that civil service pay is a difficult area, but provided no commitment to address the recommendation that relocation should not replace addressing underlying pay issues.
14
Conclusion
Deferred
Para 93
Recruiting staff to regional offices has the potential to open up the civil service as a career to a wider number of people. This can have benefits both for civil servants (enabling them to pursue a career in government without necessarily having to move to London) and for government policy …
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledged that the issues raised are a difficult area, referencing the Minister's prior evidence session, but did not commit to any specific actions or provide further clarification.
15
Conclusion
Deferred
Para 94
The previous system of Government Offices for the English Regions received some criticism at the time for not sufficiently doing bottom-up policy-making for the regions they were based in. However, there was at least a comprehensive structure in Where Civil Servants Work: Planning for the future of the Government’s estates …
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledged that the issues raised are a difficult area, referencing the Minister's prior evidence session, but did not commit to any specific actions or provide further clarification.
18
Conclusion
Accepted
Para 98
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 Summary
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
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 Summary
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.