Oral Answers to Questions

Rachel Hopkins Excerpts

Thursday 16th July 2020 Commons Chamber

[Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con)]

What plans he has to relocate (a) civil service and (b) policymaker roles outside London.

[Rachel Hopkins (Luton South) (Lab)]

If he will make an assessment of the potential effect of reductions in civil service headcount on the ability of Government to implement its policies.

[Angela Crawley (Lanark and Hamilton East) (SNP)]

What recent discussions he has had with the Prime Minister on the Government’s plans to reform the civil service.

--- Later in debate ---

[Michael Gove]

My hon. Friend is right. I said that there were at least three possible locations for the relocation of jobs in the energy sector: Teesside, Humberside and, of course, Aberdeen. There are already civil servants in Aberdeen working in this area, but we want to ensure that more jobs are dispersed to areas at the forefront of the green energy revolution—and, of course, Cleethorpes is right at the heart of that.

[Rachel Hopkins]

On the important subject of civil service staff, what does it say about the Government’s approach to bullying that it now appears that the director of propriety and ethics, who investigated serious allegations about the conduct of the Home Secretary, is to be moved?

[Michael Gove]

I am not aware of any plans for the extremely distinguished deputy Cabinet Secretary and head of propriety and ethics to be moved. Just because the story appears in The Guardian, that does not sadly these days mean that it is true.