Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the total cost of (1) redundancy, (2) severance, and (3) human resources consultancy, as a result of the planned reduction of 2,100 roles in the Cabinet Office.

The Cabinet Office has announced plans to restructure and reorganise, to create a more strategic, specialist, and smaller centre of government.

Savings will be made from non-pay budgets and pay budgets, and we expect up to 1,200 staff will leave the department in the next two years. Our priority is to achieve the necessary reductions through voluntary means or attrition. So far, 540 employees have been approved to leave through the Voluntary Exit Scheme, which is expected to cost £27 million. Estimates of the total cost of staff exits are under development. All exit payments will comply with the Civil Service Compensation Scheme. This is a long term investment as part of this government's commitment to reshape the way the British state delivers for and serves working people

These staff exits are separate to c.900 people who have moved out of the department through machinery of government changes. This includes the transfer of the Government Digital Service to DSIT to create the digital centre of government.