§ 34. Mr. Dormandasked the Minister for the Civil Service what is the number of Civil Service posts transferred to the northern region since May 1979.
§ Mr. HayhoeAs I have told the hon. Gentleman on many occasions, the dispersal programme announced on 26 July 1979 did not include any transfer of posts to the northern region. Details of posts that may have been transferred by Departments for management reasons are not held centrally.
§ Mr. DormandIs it not an absolute disgrace that in such a long period not a single Civil Service job has been transferred to that region which, continually, has had the highest unemployment in the country? Is it not a fact that some Civil Service posts have been transferred out of the Northern region? As the Government have complete control of the matter, is it not an indication that they have given up trying to help the Northern region?
§ Mr. HayhoeAs I said, we are abiding by the dispersal programme that we announced in July 1979. As for the employment of civil servants in the Northern region, the hon. Gentleman knows that that is by no means the region with the lowest number of civil servants, whatever criteria we use on which to base that fact, whether it be on the number of the population available for work or anything else.
§ Mr. BottomleyWill my hon. Friend review the dispersal policy, given that the Department of Industry has said that jobs will not just be moved about the country for the sake of it but that an examination of the economic costs involved will first be made?
§ Mr. HayhoeI am sure that we are right to carry through to its conclusion the dispersal policy that we announced in July 1979. The Government have no plans to examine another wave of dispersals.