Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Maude of Horsham Excerpts

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.

[Julian Sturdy (York Outer) (Con)]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that, given the country’s huge deficit, it is only right that the civil service should contribute to savings, and that it is important that we ensure the creation of more private sector jobs, which are, indeed, being created across York and the wider region?

[Mr Maude]

The civil service certainly must reduce in size, and it is doing so: it is at its smallest since the second world war. Private sector jobs are being created at quite a rate, and in the two years after the formation of the coalition Government 11,000 jobs were created in the private sector in York, while 4,400 were lost in the public sector.

[Jon Trickett (Hemsworth) (Lab)]

Consensual civil service relocation to cities such as York is good, cost-effective one-nation politics, as it can help to overcome chronic regional economic disparities, but if the right hon. Gentleman insists on regionalising public sector pay such relocations will simply further retrench existing regional disparities. People in York doing exactly the same job as their colleagues elsewhere in the country will be paid less. The Cabinet is reportedly divided on the subject. In this festive season, may I encourage the right hon. Gentleman to say goodbye to his inner Scrooge and abandon the ill-conceived regional public pay proposals he has been hawking around Government?

[Mr Maude]

My inner Scrooge is the taxpayer’s outer friend, and I should, perhaps, point out to the hon. Gentleman that in only one part of the civil service—Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service—have regional pay scales been abandoned and the move to regional or local market-facing pay been made, and the Government of whom he was a member introduced that.

[Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)]

2. What recent assessment he has made of the implementation of the Government’s procurement reforms.

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[Amber Rudd (Hastings and Rye) (Con)]

10. What progress he has made on his plans for the National Citizen Service.

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

Our ambition is to make National Citizen Service a rite of passage available to every 16 or 17-year-old. In 2011, more than 8,400 young people took part in it. This year we made the programmes available to a much larger number of people. The programmes finished recently and we await final data on the numbers. In 2014, we will ensure that 90,000 places are on offer.

[Richard Graham]

All those involved in the NCS programme in 2012 in my constituency of Gloucester will welcome the Minister’s news of expansion in 2013. Excellent local partner, Gloucestershire college, has suggested to me that if it was possible for the organisations that pledge support to provide more detail it could provide even more opportunities to young people in my constituency and across the county. Does my right hon. Friend agree that more could be done from the Cabinet Office to facilitate that?

[Mr Maude]

I know that my hon. Friend has taken a very close interest in the NCS, which is fast-growing and immensely popular with those who take part. Satisfaction is expressed by more than 90% of its participants. I hear what my hon. Friend says and will discuss further with him how we can take that forward.

[Amber Rudd]

The NCS designated Catch22, the provider of this programme in the south-east, with more than 2,500 places for 16 to 17-year-olds in the summer of 2012, but only 30 places were allocated to the young people of East Sussex. Will my right hon. Friend assure me that more places will be available in 2013, particularly for the young people of Hastings and Rye?

[Mr Maude]

I am very sympathetic to that indeed. Of course, the first two years were pilot years in which the programme was not available throughout England. We are now rolling it out on a much wider scale and the whole country will be covered by the NCS in 2013 and 2014. I am confident that there will be significantly more places available in East Sussex, and I shall look particularly at the position in Hastings and Rye.

[Susan Elan Jones (Clwyd South) (Lab)]

12. The NCS is the Prime Minister’s flagship policy for volunteering and the big society. Is it not therefore a bit ironic that it is primarily being run by Serco, a private company?

[Mr Maude]

The hon. Lady is quite simply wrong. Serco has had no involvement whatsoever. It will be involved in some of the regions in the forthcoming—[Interruption.] There seems to be a certain amount of interest in this. Serco is in a partnership with voluntary organisations and it is the lead organisation in a minority. Most of the regions are being led by voluntary and community sector organisations, two of them by consortia of further education colleges. I hope the hon. Lady will welcome that.

[Nick de Bois (Enfield North) (Con)]

5. What his policy is on streamlining the procurement process to enable more small and medium-sized enterprises to secure Government contracts.

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[Dan Rogerson (North Cornwall) (LD)]

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

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

My responsibilities are for the public sector efficiency and reform group, civil service issues, industrial relations, strategy in the public sector, government transparency, civil contingencies, civil society and cyber-security.

[Dan Rogerson]

I welcome the fact that the Government are increasing the range of services that they provide online to our constituents. However, digital by default is a cause for concern as some constituents who do not have access to broadband or for whatever reason choose to use a paper option are worried that that may not continue. Will the Minister reassure the House that that option will remain for all those constituents who do not wish to use the computer option?

[Mr Maude]

Transacting with the Government online costs about one twentieth of the cost of doing so by phone, one thirtieth of doing it by post, and one fiftieth, on average, of doing it face to face, so there are massive savings as well as increased convenience from moving public services online. But we recognise that there are of course people who cannot access services online and we will make sure that proper provision is made for them. We will publish our assisted digital strategy before the end of the year.

[Michael Dugher (Barnsley East) (Lab)]

In July 2010 the Minister for the Cabinet Office said that

“it is essential that we take radical steps to increase efficiency and reduce energy use. . .This Government is determined to tackle waste wherever it exists, and that includes energy”,

yet according to figures updated last week on data.gov.uk, energy use in the Minister’s own Department at 70 Whitehall has increased by 9% this year compared with last year. Why is the Minister not practising what he preaches?

[Mr Maude]

The Government are more than meeting their target to cut energy. It would be very good to hear the hon. Gentleman supporting our energy for growth project, which will mean cheaper energy for government and will unlock blocked renewable energy projects throughout the country. It would be very good to hear him supporting that.

[Mr Robert Buckland (South Swindon) (Con)]

T3. I am encouraged to see that the Government are firmly committed to reducing the extent of their bloated property portfolio. Will my right hon. Friend please update the House on progress that has been made in this area this year?

[Mr Maude]

We have hugely reduced the amount of property that the Government occupy. The overall size of the central estate in 2011 alone fell by nearly 6%; the number of our property holdings fell by 11%; and we sold Admiralty Arch, which is an unsatisfactory office building but will be a very good hotel building. We are making enormous savings. We have achieved total savings of £360 million in annual running costs. If this had started when the Leader of the Opposition had my job, the country would not have been in the mess that we inherited in 2010. [Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. There are far too many noisy private conversations taking place in the Chamber. As a result, Members are not attending to the answers that are being given by Minister Maude, and that is unsatisfactory.

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[Tom Blenkinsop (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland) (Lab)]

T7. Does the Minister think that abolishing the Advisory Committee on Hazardous Substances in the morning and establishing the Hazardous Substances Advisory Committee in the afternoon was a sensible use of taxpayers’ money and time?

[Mr Maude]

I have no idea about the issue the hon. Gentleman is talking about, but I will look into it and give him an answer.

The Prime Minister was asked—