18 Accepted

Unproven economic and cultural benefits of civil service relocation programmes

Conclusion
Overall, the Cabinet Office has a number of successes to point to regarding the Places for Growth and Government Hubs programmes. The number of posts allocated to regional offices under Places for Growth is growing rapidly, and HMRC and the GPA have made significant progress in meeting their objectives of consolidating the office portfolio into a smaller number of larger, more modern buildings. However, these promising signs are undermined to an extent by weaknesses in the framing, reporting, and rationale for these programmes. Notably the reported economic and cultural benefits of civil service relocation have not been clearly demonstrated.
Government Response Summary
The government stated that research underpinning the economic benefits of the Places for Growth programme has already been published, implying the benefits have been demonstrated.
Paragraph Reference
98
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government Accepted
20. Research underpinning the economic benefits of the Places for Growth programme has already been published.