Switch of jobs to London '˜must be shelved'

Labour MP Paul Blomfield will be joined by Conservatives in a rare cross-party call to the National Audit Office on Monday to make an emergency intervention into the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills plan to close their Sheffield office.

While a consultation has been underway with staff on the proposal, which could lead to 247 job losses, a final decision on whether to close the site for good will be mate at the end of the month.

A leaked document seen by The Yorkshire Post also shows that the department admits their cost-cutting restructure plan named BIS2020 goes further than Treasury demands to meet austerity targets. The six-page Finance and Headcount outline paper shows how the cutbacks “go further than savings required” to meet Chancellor George Osborne’s expectations.

Paul Blomfield, Sheffield Central MP, said: “The proposal to move jobs from Sheffield to London makes no financial sense, nor is it the way to draw on talent from across the country.

“If the Business Department doesn’t withdraw the proposal on Monday, we will call for it to be suspended pending a National Audit Office cost benefit analysis.

“Figures show it’ll cost £2.5m more a year to move these functions to London, not to mention the impression this gives of the Government’s so called Northern Powerhouse.

“I hope Ministers will respond positively to our calls to step back and look again.”

Staff in Sheffield were told in January by Permanent Secretary Martin Donnelly that the department was planning on shutting the city’s office with 247 roles at risk.

Information requested from the Government by MPs revealed that while it costs £3,000 per employee in rent and rates in the department’s Sheffield base, the cost is three times that in London.

Chair of the Public Accounts Select Committee, Meg Hillier MP, publicly critisied Mr Donnelly for not being able to provide the cost basis for the proposed closure of the office when he went before MPs to answer questions last month.

The leaked document also shows how the BIS2020 plan to scale back a range of civil service jobs could impact on workers across Yorkshire .

Modelling carried out by consultancy firm McKinsey on behalf of the Government proposes that there could be up to 40 per cent job losses in a number of targeted agencies by 2020.

In Leeds they are understood to include the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, the Skills Funding Agency and a small number of BIS civil service jobs.

Labour’s Richard Burgon, Leeds East MP, said: “The Conservative Government’s decision to put more jobs in Leeds under threat shows that George Osborne’s talk of a ‘Northern Powerhouse’ is just southern hot air. People here in Leeds deserve better than this.”