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Budget 2010: 15,000 more Whitehall jobs to move

24/03/10 1:30 pm By Nick Johnstone

The government should relocate 15,000 jobs out of London in the next five years, Ian Smith has recommended in his report on government relocation today.

The former Reed Elsevier chief executive’s much-anticipated report on civil service relocations was published alongside today’s Budget 2010. It says the government should look to reduce the civil service in London by one third.

This follows the Lyons Review of 2004, which proposed the relocation of 20,000 posts outside London and the South-East.

The Ian Smith Review was announced as part of December’s Smarter Government report. It recommends that 3,000 civil servants be relocated each year for the next five years as part of a wider initiative to streamline the cost of Whitehall. £425m has been put aside to help with the relocation.

This will come as good news for cities such as Liverpool and Manchester which are aiming to attract more public sector tenants.

The report also points to development locations in the South East as acceptable destinations for civil service departments – a recommendation that was missing from the Lyons Review.

Angus McIntosh, head of research and partner at property agent King Sturge said: “A fundamental recommendation which Smith has put forward is that government departments can move out of central London to development areas within South East England.

“The benefit of this is that government departments will be encouraged to go to regional South East areas, which will boost the property markets in areas like Stratford, where the Olympic village is being built, and Thames Gateway.”

Tomorrow, Communities Secretary John Denham will publish a report on the Total Place scheme, with recommendations as part of the Smarter Government initiative on how regional and local government can be streamlined to eliminate waste and duplication.

More sharing of local publicly-owned property is expected to feature strongly.

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2 Comments »

  • Adam Breeze said:

    Tough times call for tough measures and calling for 15,000 jobs to be relocated out of the capital might seem ambitious but it simply does not go far enough, especially given the provision to relocate WITHIN London and the South East. This is one of the few areas where the government can directly transfer jobs and new opportunities to areas of the country in need. There should be no more than is absolutely essential in Central London and a target of having 90% of the service outside of the capital.

    # 24 March 2010 at 2:27 PM
    • Richard Heap said:

      Thanks for your comment, Adam. But do you think this’ll actually happen? I understand the big issue with government is that it reallocates ‘posts’ rather than people: in other words, it shifts work out of London to be done elsewhere but has the same number of staff in London as it ever did.

      # 24 March 2010 at 4:36 PM

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