More civil service jobs have been moved to our region than anywhere else in the country as part of a scheme to save more than £2 billion in savings from property sales and efficiencies, says Minister Jacob Rees-Mogg.
The new strategy will accelerate the Places for Growth programme, which is moving 22,000 civil service roles out of London by 2030. The scheme has already relocated 7,000 jobs out of the capital, including 1,389 moved to Yorkshire & the Humber – the most of any UK region.
The Home Office, Ministry of Justice and Department for Health and Social Care have moved more than 500 roles to Leeds while the Department for Education and Home Office contribute to around 250 Civil Service roles now based in Sheffield.
As part of the plans, the government will sell £1.5 billion of properties over the next three years, and predicts £500 million of savings from reduced operating costs, using modern building materials and energy sources, and cutting spend on leases.
Jacob Rees-Mogg said: “We are cutting the cost of the public estate so that we can return money to the taxpayer. All spending on government property needs to be justified. This will also help us deliver the Places for Growth programme, which will allow greater savings and mean the government is closer to the communities it serves.
The government estate is made up of hundreds of thousands of assets, from prisons and courts, to schools and museums, hospitals and health surgeries, job centres, military bases, administrative offices, and many more, spread all around the UK.
It will also ensure the Government estate supports delivery of the 25 Year Environment Plan and the Greening Government Commitments. Progress has already been made in this area with emissions from the government estate having fallen 57% since 2009.
The strategy outlines other successes which have already been delivered. These include reducing water consumption by 14%, and reducing the overall waste products from departments by 51%.
