Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Maude of Horsham and Hugh Bayley

Wednesday 19th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Hugh Bayley (York Central) (Lab)]

1. How many full-time equivalent civil servants were employed in York in May (a) 2010 and (b) 2012.

[The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General (Mr Francis Maude)]

The number of full-time equivalent civil servants employed in York on 31 March 2010 was 2,390 and on 31 March 2012 it had reduced to 1,980.

[Hugh Bayley]

With electronic communications improving all the time, it is hard to justify having so many civil servants in London and so few in other parts of the country, such as my constituency, where rents and overheads are so much cheaper. Will the Cabinet Office carry out a strategic review of the number of civil service posts in London that could be relocated to cities such as York?

[Mr Maude]

There have been endless such studies, including under the last Conservative Government and the Government of whom the hon. Gentleman was a member. The truth is that the number of civil servants in central London is much higher than it needs to be, and it is already falling. We are concentrating the numbers into the central London freehold estate, which is significantly reducing our costs, but there is further to go.

Party Funding

Debate between Lord Maude of Horsham and Hugh Bayley

Monday 26th March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Maude]

I think transparency is very important. As I have said, Mr Rosenfeld is someone I knew when I was chairman of the Conservative party. We turned his money down.

[Hugh Bayley (York Central) (Lab)]

Shortly before the general election, the Bribery Act 2010 was passed with all-party support. Under certain circumstances the Act requires the director of the Serious Fraud Office to seek permission from the Attorney-General before investigating or prosecuting. Can the Minister give the House an absolute assurance that neither the Attorney-General nor the Solicitor-General will exercise a veto over an investigation or prosecution, if that is what the director of the SFO believes is in order?

[Mr Maude]

That is a rather over-excitable question that would be better directed to the Attorney-General, who is very much his own man in these and all matters.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Maude of Horsham and Hugh Bayley

Wednesday 9th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Maude]

I would indeed. I expect those representations to be vigorous and forthright and I look forward to receiving them.

[Hugh Bayley (York Central) (Lab)]

Many public bodies, such as the RDAs the Minister mentioned, but also the Bank of England, the BBC, the Judicial Appointments Commission and parliamentary boundary commissions, are independent of Government precisely because they have to be independent of Government. Will the Minister give the House a commitment that this will not just be a centralising exercise whereby bodies that ought to be independent are taken under direct control by Ministers?