Michael Gove backs think tank's report on moving 50,000 civil servants to the North

Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove has backed a proposal to move nearly 50,000 civil service roles out of Whitehall and to the North.

Think tank the Northern Policy Foundation (NFP) launched a report today calling for the mass relocation of thousands of Government employees amid claims such a move could bring £3bn into the North’s economy.

And the centre-right group, which is backed by a number of so-called Red Wall Conservative MPs, said up to 95 per cent of the civil service could be moved out of London.

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Mr Gove, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, said there was a “growing disconnect between the Government machine and those which it seeks to help”.

Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove. Photo: PACabinet Office minister Michael Gove. Photo: PA
Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove. Photo: PA

“All too often departments and the senior ranks of the Civil Service recruit in their own image, restricting cognitive diversity and impacting the quality of policy development and delivery,” he said.

“Despite efforts of the past, all major Government departments are still based in London, with the concentration of senior, policy and economic jobs that comes with it.

“We can and will work to reduce the distance between Government and the people by relocating Government decision-making centres to different parts of our United Kingdom - including the North of England.

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“This report adds to the economic, social, moral and intellectual imperative for change as well as laying out some of the benefits to levelling-up, decision making, tackling groupthink and ensuring that powerful voices within every arm of government are better in tune with the majority of public opinion.”

It comes after the Conservative Party announced last month that it would open a second headquarters in Leeds, and speaking at the Great Northern Conference last month Boris Johnson committed to move ministers out of London as part of his levelling up plan.

“We will move departments of state - ministers, private offices and all - to great northern cities and regions that represent the future of this country,” he said.

The pledge has been seen as an effort to get the promises made at the December General Election to balance regional inequalities back on track, after Downing Street admitted the coronavirus pandemic had delayed progress.

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And it builds on previous suggestions that the House of Lords could be moved to York while the current premises undergo restoration.

Similar promises have been made by Labour, who during the December election said they would move departments North.

In reaction to the news of the Tory HQ plans, Labour said: “The North shrugs.”

And in response to today’s report Rachel Reeves, Leeds West MP and Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, said: "Labour has called for more government jobs across the UK for years - but with the Tories in power for over a decade, we need to see action, not just more warm words."

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But the NPF paper recognised the idea was not new, with Sir Gilbert Flemming first publishing a report on the idea in 1963.

And it said there had been “at least five attempts over the last six years to relocate roles from the capital, on each occasion the government of the day has encountered institutional resistance and lack of cooperation from vested interests”.

The think tank’s director Tom Lees and Dr Sam Turnpenney, a former NASA data scientist, used a unique ‘relocation index’ to decide the areas in the North of England which could benefit most from the move.

Leeds would be the base for the Treasury, while York would be home to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

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The index looks at population size, skill levels, job density, productivity levels, digital connectivity, house prices and the relevant ‘location quotient’ that matches each department’s needs.

Mr Lees said: “The civil service, particularly the senior ranks, is in need of significant reform. It lacks diversity of thought, background and life experience.

“Moving Whitehall mandarins and roles out of London allows for recruitment of local people with different backgrounds who are hopefully more in tune with what the public thinks. Given the proliferation of Zoom, Teams and other technology there is no real need to be in close physical proximity.

“There will be a great deal of institutional resistance to any changes from top of the civil service who benefit from the status quo and old boys and girls network.”

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While the report said: “Seven out of the 10 highest civil service grades are located in London compared to just one in 12 across the whole of the North of England. Compared to the most

junior grades where a third are located in the North.

“This approach of ‘outsourcing’ lower paying jobs to the North undervalues the skills and talent the North has, reduces the economic impact of such moves and does little to break Whitehall groupthink.”

The Cabinet Office has already pledged to move 22,000 jobs in the next decade, while Alex Chisholm, chief operating officer for the civil service, told MPs last month: “We have got used to hybrid work. That has made it much easier to achieve this vision of a UK-wide civil service.”

The Treasury previously announced plans to create an "economic campus" in the North, while new cabinet secretary Simon Case told MPs the Government must be "less London" and "more out there in the country".

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He said: "We share a common drive among ministers and civil servants to get a civil service that looks, feels and operates geographically more like the country it serves."

The report was welcomed by Roger Marsh OBE, Chair of the NP11 group of Northern LEPs, who said: “The North has long faced disparity in areas such as productivity, R&D spending and life expectancy compared to the South of the country, and the case made in this interesting and thoughtful report underlines the clear impact that relocating more senior, policy-focused public sector jobs would have upon opportunities across the region.

“With strengths in world-leading industries and an impressive talent roster, the North is a prime place for relocation - and, if delivered in the right way, relocation will in turn see departments reap the benefits and thrive.”

The index found:

- Lancaster would be best placed for the Department for Education and Ofsted;

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- Stockton-on-Tees for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Department for Work and Pensions;

- Liverpool for the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England;

- Trafford for the Department for International Trade;

- Manchester for the Ministry of Justice, the Supreme Court, and Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service;

- Warrington for the Department for Transport and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government;

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- Newcastle for the Home Office, UK Border Force, and HM Prison and Probation Service;

- Salford for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and Ofcom;

- And Preston for the Ministry of Defence.

The most recent data from the civil service shows around a fifth of civil servants work in London.

Some 92,000 civil servants work in the capital, with 56,000 in the North West and 46,000 in Scotland.

But the most senior staff still are mostly based in London.

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