Government Departments: Location

(asked on 16th July 2018) - View Source

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department plans to establish a strategy for other cities similar to that for enhancing the heart of London set out in the Government's Estate Strategy of July 2018.


Answered by
Oliver Dowden Portrait
Oliver Dowden
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
This question was answered on 23rd July 2018

Through the 2018 Government Estate Strategy, Government has committed to working with stakeholders to implement long term improvements to make the heart of London more welcoming, secure and accessible.

In the same way, many other urban centres are being supported by programmes as set out in the Government Estate Strategy. This includes One Public Estate (OPE) and Places for Growth (PfG), which support economic growth, the delivery of more accessible public services and the creation of clusters of government jobs and expertise in cities across the UK.

The OPE programme is a key contributor to growth and regeneration across cities in England and fosters collaboration between local and central Government partners. For example, in York OPE is supporting public sector partners to deliver an ambitious town centre regeneration scheme by redeveloping a 72 hectare site surrounding York Railway station. This is expected to deliver up to 1500 new homes and 100,000 square metres of commercial space.

To support economic growth across the UK, the PfG Programme has been established to drive delivery of the Government’s commitment to move civil service jobs, including senior roles, out of London and the South East. PfG are taking a place-based approach to inform the decision-making process around any relocation of public bodies rather than selecting locations solely on estate provision. Ultimately, we want organisations to go to cities that have existing skills and capacity to enable them to flourish.

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