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.
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.
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.
Conclusions (4)
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.
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.
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.