More details on govt plans to shift civil servants out of London, via @GeorgeWParker and @SebastianEPayne

@ereniemb, @AlexGAThomas and I wrote a report on this for @instituteforgov last year, and I have some *evidence based* thoughts https://www.ft.com/content/2f44cb25-ea8a-4a8e-8f83-86a8b2acb2e0
Treasury North leads march of civil servants out of London

Shake-up of Whitehall machine as campus expected to be established before next election

https://www.ft.com/content/2f44cb25-ea8a-4a8e-8f83-86a8b2acb2e0
On the face of it, most of these plans sound sensible, if ambitious. Though most have already been briefed out - beginning to feel like I'm in some kind of distraction story groundhog day... 🤔

But there are some potential dangers ahead:
1. Choice of location is crucial. In interviews, we heard similar things to the anonymous MP, particularly when it comes to policy jobs. And recall that HMT staff skew young.

Big cities also have a deeper skill base if you want to hire locally.
Worst case scenario is an ONS-style shedding of staff - when it moved its HQ to Newport, 90% left rather than follow it.
2. Clustering civil service jobs in the one location is another success factor. The govt shouldn't be shy about sending CS jobs to places that already have them - it can help with cross-dept collaboration and build decent career paths (and so helps attract talent).
2. Clustering civil service jobs in the one location is another success factor. The govt shouldn't be shy about sending CS jobs to places that already have them - it can help with cross-dept collaboration and build decent career paths (and so helps attract talent).
2. Clustering civil service jobs in the one location is another success factor. The govt shouldn't be shy about sending CS jobs to places that already have them - it can help with cross-dept collaboration and build decent career paths (and so helps attract talent).
2. Clustering civil service jobs in the one location is another success factor. The govt shouldn't be shy about sending CS jobs to places that already have them - it can help with cross-dept collaboration and build decent career paths (and so helps attract talent).
3. Senior involvement is also critical to success - it shows the new office is a serious endeavour and helps with career paths, but has been a struggle in the past. Govt needs to spell out plans for how they will do things differently
I'm rather sceptical that ministers will spend a "significant" amount of time in regional offices - unless of course those happen to coincide with constituencies. (We heard in interviews that one dept had constructed a ministerial suite outside London that had never been used.)
If you think relocations are going to make a big contribution to levelling up, well, I would suggest you temper your expectations.

More thoughts on that and relocations in general in our report: https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publications/civil-service-relocation
Moving out: making a success of civil service relocation

The government’s plans to relocate 22,000 civil servants out of London by the end of the decade will benefit civil service recruitment but do little to “level up” the north-south divide.

https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publications/civil-service-relocation
Finally - for a really valuable historical perspective on all of this, worth your time reading this on the former Government Offices network by @oldtrotter: https://twitter.com/ukcivilservant/status/1334116607745024002?s=20
You can follow @sarahjnickson.
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