Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to increase the proportion of civil service jobs based outside London in (a) Stoke-on-Trent and (b) Staffordshire.

The Government has committed to ensuring that the administration of Government is less London-centric by relocating 22,000 Civil Service roles out of central London and into the regions and nations of the United Kingdom by the end of the decade.

The Cabinet Office, through the Places for Growth programme, will make further announcements on this programme in the usual way.