Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to paragraph 6.7 of Budget 2016, what plans additional to the move of 5,700 staff from Whitehall to 10 South Colonnade, have been made to reduce significantly the number of civil servants working in Central London.

In central London, of 181 offices in 2010, only 54 remain. Increased mobility and flexibility will further reduce demand for office space in central London as fewer staff need to be in offices full-time. Rationalisation will continue, enabling more multi-departmental use of HQ buildings and for civil servants to move to Canary Wharf and Croydon where property costs are lower.

We plan to move to around 20 efficient, fit-for-purpose buildings in central London by 2025, supported by smarter working.

Any proposed relocation is done based on the operational needs of individual departments, and each individual department is responsible for determining workforce numbers remaining in central London.