Plans To Sell 1.5Bn Uk Government Offices Based On Fantasy Critics Say Public Service

They targeted Jacob Rees-Mogg’s crackdown on what he called “underused” property, which would see the number of offices operating in the heart of Westminster more than halved. The Brexit opportunities minister said the move would deliver “more effective, more efficient and smaller government” and save taxpayers money given the “challenging fiscal environment”. While the number of government offices in central London has already fallen significantly since 2018, from 63 to 36, a strategy published on Wednesday said ministers would be “further consolidated with only 16 buildings remaining in and around Whitehall” by in 2025 – fewer than 23 government departments. Around £1.5 billion will be recovered, the Cabinet estimates. The figure is less than 1% of the estimated £157bn worth of the government’s estate, which includes prisons, courts, schools and museums, as well as hospitals and health clinics, work centers and military bases across the UK. A further £500 million is hoped to be saved by reducing operating and lease costs, as well as changing building materials and energy sources. Fewer civil servants will need office space in London, given a target to move 22,000 roles and 50% of senior civil service jobs out of Greater London by 2030, the Cabinet Office said. Government buildings will also have to follow revised guidelines for public toilets, which are being changed to discourage “gender neutrals” and instead keep facilities separate for men and women. Mike Clancy, general secretary of civil servants union Prospect, said a well-informed plan to improve the efficiency of government buildings and cut emissions would be welcome, but added: “This is not it.” He pointed to the promised cut of nearly 20% in civil servant jobs. The government has yet to announce which of its 91,000 roles are likely to remain and faces the threat of legal action over attempts to limit the size of redundancy payments. Clancy said: “What we have here is an imaginary asset reduction target, based on an imaginary headcount reduction target with no plan to deliver it.” It is a “real danger that by closing smaller properties that are embedded in communities, in the name of efficiency, you make it much more difficult for people to access face-to-face services,” he said, adding that the strategy was “short-sighted” and ideological. The Cabinet Office said it was unable to reveal the list of buildings it planned to sell to raise £1.5 billion for commercial purposes. When the final sites are identified, staff working in them will first be told where they will be relocated. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Rees-Mogg has put pressure on civil servants to reduce remote work and work more in the office, carrying out spot checks in some departments and leaving notes in many empty offices. However, the document released on Wednesday made no mention of maintaining flexible working. This contrasts with the National Estate Agency’s strategy for the 2020s, which found: “In most cases office-based work can be done effectively at home.” Jordan Urban, a researcher for the Institute for Government, a think tank, said: “Given the rise of hybrid work and its potential impact on government property claims, it is surprising that it is not mentioned once in the strategy.” He added that while the search for a more efficient estate made sense, “a smaller one may be at odds with the government’s intention to get public servants back into the office more often, given that in some departments there are already significant constraints on the space available for personal work”. Mark Serwotka, the general secretary of the Civil and Commercial Services Union, also said Rees-Mogg was pursuing an agenda to “punish” civil servants who worked from home, adding: “We will insist that any office closures do not result in job losses of work, but in contrast to flexible work’.

title: “Plans To Sell 1.5Bn Uk Government Offices Based On Fantasy Critics Say Public Service Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-03” author: “Elizabeth West”

They targeted Jacob Rees-Mogg’s crackdown on what he called “underused” property, which would see the number of offices operating in the heart of Westminster more than halved. The Brexit opportunities minister said the move would deliver “more effective, more efficient and smaller government” and save taxpayers money given the “challenging fiscal environment”. While the number of government offices in central London has already fallen significantly since 2018, from 63 to 36, a strategy published on Wednesday said ministers would be “further consolidated with only 16 buildings remaining in and around Whitehall” by in 2025 – fewer than 23 government departments. Around £1.5 billion will be recovered, the Cabinet estimates. The figure is less than 1% of the estimated £157bn worth of the government’s estate, which includes prisons, courts, schools and museums, as well as hospitals and health clinics, work centers and military bases across the UK. A further £500 million is hoped to be saved by reducing operating and lease costs, as well as changing building materials and energy sources. Fewer civil servants will need office space in London, given a target to move 22,000 roles and 50% of senior civil service jobs out of Greater London by 2030, the Cabinet Office said. Government buildings will also have to follow revised guidelines for public toilets, which are being changed to discourage “gender neutrals” and instead keep facilities separate for men and women. Mike Clancy, general secretary of civil servants union Prospect, said a well-informed plan to improve the efficiency of government buildings and cut emissions would be welcome, but added: “This is not it.” He pointed to the promised cut of nearly 20% in civil servant jobs. The government has yet to announce which of its 91,000 roles are likely to remain and faces the threat of legal action over attempts to limit the size of redundancy payments. Clancy said: “What we have here is an imaginary asset reduction target, based on an imaginary headcount reduction target with no plan to deliver it.” It is a “real danger that by closing smaller properties that are embedded in communities, in the name of efficiency, you make it much more difficult for people to access face-to-face services,” he said, adding that the strategy was “short-sighted” and ideological. The Cabinet Office said it was unable to reveal the list of buildings it planned to sell to raise £1.5 billion for commercial purposes. When the final sites are identified, staff working in them will first be told where they will be relocated. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Rees-Mogg has put pressure on civil servants to reduce remote work and work more in the office, carrying out spot checks in some departments and leaving notes in many empty offices. However, the document released on Wednesday made no mention of maintaining flexible working. This contrasts with the National Estate Agency’s strategy for the 2020s, which found: “In most cases office-based work can be done effectively at home.” Jordan Urban, a researcher for the Institute for Government, a think tank, said: “Given the rise of hybrid work and its potential impact on government property claims, it is surprising that it is not mentioned once in the strategy.” He added that while the search for a more efficient estate made sense, “a smaller one may be at odds with the government’s intention to get public servants back into the office more often, given that in some departments there are already significant constraints on the space available for personal work”. Mark Serwotka, the general secretary of the Civil and Commercial Services Union, also said Rees-Mogg was pursuing an agenda to “punish” civil servants who worked from home, adding: “We will insist that any office closures do not result in job losses of work, but in contrast to flexible work’.

title: “Plans To Sell 1.5Bn Uk Government Offices Based On Fantasy Critics Say Public Service Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-10-30” author: “Billy Mock”

They targeted Jacob Rees-Mogg’s crackdown on what he called “underused” property, which would see the number of offices operating in the heart of Westminster more than halved. The Brexit opportunities minister said the move would deliver “more effective, more efficient and smaller government” and save taxpayers money given the “challenging fiscal environment”. While the number of government offices in central London has already fallen significantly since 2018, from 63 to 36, a strategy published on Wednesday said ministers would be “further consolidated with only 16 buildings remaining in and around Whitehall” by in 2025 – fewer than 23 government departments. Around £1.5 billion will be recovered, the Cabinet estimates. The figure is less than 1% of the estimated £157bn worth of the government’s estate, which includes prisons, courts, schools and museums, as well as hospitals and health clinics, work centers and military bases across the UK. A further £500 million is hoped to be saved by reducing operating and lease costs, as well as changing building materials and energy sources. Fewer civil servants will need office space in London, given a target to move 22,000 roles and 50% of senior civil service jobs out of Greater London by 2030, the Cabinet Office said. Government buildings will also have to follow revised guidelines for public toilets, which are being changed to discourage “gender neutrals” and instead keep facilities separate for men and women. Mike Clancy, general secretary of civil servants union Prospect, said a well-informed plan to improve the efficiency of government buildings and cut emissions would be welcome, but added: “This is not it.” He pointed to the promised cut of nearly 20% in civil servant jobs. The government has yet to announce which of its 91,000 roles are likely to remain and faces the threat of legal action over attempts to limit the size of redundancy payments. Clancy said: “What we have here is an imaginary asset reduction target, based on an imaginary headcount reduction target with no plan to deliver it.” It is a “real danger that by closing smaller properties that are embedded in communities, in the name of efficiency, you make it much more difficult for people to access face-to-face services,” he said, adding that the strategy was “short-sighted” and ideological. The Cabinet Office said it was unable to reveal the list of buildings it planned to sell to raise £1.5 billion for commercial purposes. When the final sites are identified, staff working in them will first be told where they will be relocated. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Rees-Mogg has put pressure on civil servants to reduce remote work and work more in the office, carrying out spot checks in some departments and leaving notes in many empty offices. However, the document released on Wednesday made no mention of maintaining flexible working. This contrasts with the National Estate Agency’s strategy for the 2020s, which found: “In most cases office-based work can be done effectively at home.” Jordan Urban, a researcher for the Institute for Government, a think tank, said: “Given the rise of hybrid work and its potential impact on government property claims, it is surprising that it is not mentioned once in the strategy.” He added that while the search for a more efficient estate made sense, “a smaller one may be at odds with the government’s intention to get public servants back into the office more often, given that in some departments there are already significant constraints on the space available for personal work”. Mark Serwotka, the general secretary of the Civil and Commercial Services Union, also said Rees-Mogg was pursuing an agenda to “punish” civil servants who worked from home, adding: “We will insist that any office closures do not result in job losses of work, but in contrast to flexible work’.

title: “Plans To Sell 1.5Bn Uk Government Offices Based On Fantasy Critics Say Public Service Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-21” author: “Maria Page”

They targeted Jacob Rees-Mogg’s crackdown on what he called “underused” property, which would see the number of offices operating in the heart of Westminster more than halved. The Brexit opportunities minister said the move would deliver “more effective, more efficient and smaller government” and save taxpayers money given the “challenging fiscal environment”. While the number of government offices in central London has already fallen significantly since 2018, from 63 to 36, a strategy published on Wednesday said ministers would be “further consolidated with only 16 buildings remaining in and around Whitehall” by in 2025 – fewer than 23 government departments. Around £1.5 billion will be recovered, the Cabinet estimates. The figure is less than 1% of the estimated £157bn worth of the government’s estate, which includes prisons, courts, schools and museums, as well as hospitals and health clinics, work centers and military bases across the UK. A further £500 million is hoped to be saved by reducing operating and lease costs, as well as changing building materials and energy sources. Fewer civil servants will need office space in London, given a target to move 22,000 roles and 50% of senior civil service jobs out of Greater London by 2030, the Cabinet Office said. Government buildings will also have to follow revised guidelines for public toilets, which are being changed to discourage “gender neutrals” and instead keep facilities separate for men and women. Mike Clancy, general secretary of civil servants union Prospect, said a well-informed plan to improve the efficiency of government buildings and cut emissions would be welcome, but added: “This is not it.” He pointed to the promised cut of nearly 20% in civil servant jobs. The government has yet to announce which of its 91,000 roles are likely to remain and faces the threat of legal action over attempts to limit the size of redundancy payments. Clancy said: “What we have here is an imaginary asset reduction target, based on an imaginary headcount reduction target with no plan to deliver it.” It is a “real danger that by closing smaller properties that are embedded in communities, in the name of efficiency, you make it much more difficult for people to access face-to-face services,” he said, adding that the strategy was “short-sighted” and ideological. The Cabinet Office said it was unable to reveal the list of buildings it planned to sell to raise £1.5 billion for commercial purposes. When the final sites are identified, staff working in them will first be told where they will be relocated. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Rees-Mogg has put pressure on civil servants to reduce remote work and work more in the office, carrying out spot checks in some departments and leaving notes in many empty offices. However, the document released on Wednesday made no mention of maintaining flexible working. This contrasts with the National Estate Agency’s strategy for the 2020s, which found: “In most cases office-based work can be done effectively at home.” Jordan Urban, a researcher for the Institute for Government, a think tank, said: “Given the rise of hybrid work and its potential impact on government property claims, it is surprising that it is not mentioned once in the strategy.” He added that while the search for a more efficient estate made sense, “a smaller one may be at odds with the government’s intention to get public servants back into the office more often, given that in some departments there are already significant constraints on the space available for personal work”. Mark Serwotka, the general secretary of the Civil and Commercial Services Union, also said Rees-Mogg was pursuing an agenda to “punish” civil servants who worked from home, adding: “We will insist that any office closures do not result in job losses of work, but in contrast to flexible work’.