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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-06-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Written Statement of 26 May 2016 on BIS consultation, HCWS30, what assessment he has made of the maximum potential savings that could be made by reducing headcount in the (a) London office at 1 Victoria Street and (b) Sheffield office at St Paul’s Place through natural attrition, vacancy management and recruitment freezes.

Joseph Johnson

In looking at potential paybill savings from reducing headcount, the department estimated that up to £15m paybill costs could be saved as a result of reducing to around 1,500 policy posts between now and 2020.

Around £6.5m annual paybill costs would be from headcount reductions arising from the decision to close the Sheffield office.

The remaining paybill savings would come from a combination of natural turnover, vacancy management and recruitment freezes in 1 Victoria Street between now and 2020.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-06-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Written Statement of 26 May 2016 on BIS consultation, HCWS30, what difficulties his Department experienced with split-site working in response to the steel crisis and Eurozone contingency planning.

Joseph Johnson

HCWS30 cites the steel crisis as an example of where the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has recently needed to redeploy large numbers of staff to address an urgent priority. As our policy function becomes more focused over the course of the Parliament, we expect to have to redeploy staff in this way more frequently than has so far been the case. Operating across split sites, in the context of a smaller workforce overall, would make it harder to quickly redeploy people to a different team or policy area, or for someone to be able to respond to an unpredictable or unusual demand for more intensive engagement with Ministers or Parliament.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-06-06.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on his Department’s plans to diversify the civil service.

Matthew Hancock

The Civil Service is committed to becoming representative of the modern Britain it serves and our aim is to be the most inclusive employer in the UK. This ambition is set out in our Talent Action Plan, refreshed in March 2016. This plan commits the Civil Service to actions that aim to remove barriers to success faced by underrepresented groups. All government departments are committed to the delivery of this plan. Permanent Secretaries have clear accountability for the diversity agenda and progress within their departments is measured through their personal diversity objectives. The plan is being delivered as part of the wider Civil Service Workforce Strategy.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-06-06.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what progress the Government has made on implementing its policy to move graduate recruitment outside London and establish a regional assessment centre.

Matthew Hancock

The Bridge Group Report into Socio-Economic Diversity in the Fast Stream recommended that the Fast Stream should introduce at least one regional assessment centre from Autumn 2016 and move to a greater number of regional assessment centres in future years.