Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 8 March 2021 to Question 162625, whether any new jobs will be created by the location of HM Treasury's Northern Campus in Darlington.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Darlington economic campus is an important part of the government’s wider Places for Growth programme, which aims to move 22,000 Civil Servants out of London by 2030. HM Treasury will be filling roles in the Darlington economic campus through both voluntary relocation and direct recruitment. The new office will include a range of roles and levels of seniority. The mixture of voluntary relocation and direct recruitment, and the exact nature of the roles, will be determined in due course.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the announcement made in Budget 2021 on civil service relocation, what additional plans the Government has to relocate more civil servants outside of London; and when he plans to publish details of those proposed relocations.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government has committed to ensuring that the administration of Government is less Whitehall-centric with 22,000 civil service roles relocating to the regions and nations of the UK by the end of the decade. As you are aware, HMT and MHCLG both announced their relocation plans in the last few weeks. The Places for Growth programme is working with departments on their relocation plans to ensure a broad geography of the UK is benefiting from this agenda. Further announcements will be made in due course.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what progress he has made on relocating civil servants from London to other parts of the UK.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government has committed to ensuring that the administration of Government is less London-centric. Further announcements will be made in due course.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the announcement in the March 2020 Budget on the relocation of civil servants, what recent progress his Department has made on relocating civil servants; and if he will publish the criteria used to select potential sites for relocations.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
I refer the hon. Member to the answers given by myself and the Minister without Portfolio to questions on 12 November.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of relocating civil service roles from London on regional inequality.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
I refer the hon. Member to the answers given by myself and the Minister without Portfolio to questions on 12 November.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that relocation of civil servants outside of London helps to facilitate regional representation in decision-making.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
I refer the hon. Member to my answer to PQ72996 on 21 July 2020.
Asked by: Imran Ahmad Khan (Independent - Wakefield)
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 in (a) Wakefield, (b) West Yorkshire and (c) the rest of the UK outside London.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Further to my answer to PQ72996 on 21 July 2020, we are working to increase civil service presence throughout the regions and nations of the UK. We want to ensure our geography of locations covers as large and representative an area of the UK as possible, including West Yorkshire.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 7 September 2020 to Question 83904 on Civil Servants: Edinburgh, how many HMRC staff are working in Queen Elizabeth House, Edinburgh; and how many have been based there in each month since its opening.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The UK Government Hub in Edinburgh, Queen Elizabeth House, opened to staff on 1 September 2020. In line with current social distancing measures, HMRC have adapted their plans to welcome staff to their new location.
Since the opening, the number of HMRC staff in attendance has increased gradually as business-critical staff and others who need to be there completed their mandatory building inductions.
There will be other Government departments, in smaller numbers than HMRC, based at Queen Elizabeth House, although they are not currently working from the building: the Valuation Office Agency, the Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland, the Office of the Advocate General, the Competition and Markets Authority, the Office for Statistics Regulation, the Government Actuary’s Department, HM Treasury, the Health and Safety Executive, Cabinet Office and the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what progress has been made on implementing the Places for Growth programme.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
As the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster set out in his Ditchley Speech, the Government is determined to ensure the Civil Service is better distributed across the country. The Places for Growth Programme is working with departments and public bodies to firm up relocation plans and further details will be announced in due course. The Places for Growth programme is exploring opportunities across the whole of the UK.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Places for Growth Programme in assessing the potential for relocating government offices to Southampton.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
As the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster set out in his Ditchley Speech, the Government is determined to ensure the Civil Service is better distributed across the country. The Places for Growth Programme is working with departments and public bodies to firm up relocation plans and further details will be announced in due course. The Places for Growth programme is exploring opportunities across the whole of the UK.