HC Deb 14 November 1988 vol 140 cc737-8
9. Mr. Cran

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what steps he has taken to implement the recommendations in his Department's report that a significant number of headquarters staff be relocated out of London.

Mr. Peter Lloyd

We accept in principle that there is a good case for relocating some of our headquarters work away from London. A team of officials are working on turning the principle into reality. We expect to have the team's report by the end of March 1989.

Mr. Cran

I congratulate my hon. Friend on his answer. I also congratulate him because his Department is in the forefront of relocating civil servants out of London and the south-east—a policy that is long overdue. Hard as I try, I cannot see Humberside mentioned in the document. Is he susceptible to representations to include it?

Mr. Lloyd

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for both of his congratulations. I know that he has a long-standing interest in the subject and that he is an excellent advocate for Humberside. I can assure him that if he puts to us the merits of Humberside as a suitable location for our out-of-town headquarters we shall consider them very carefully indeed.

Mr. Worthington

In considering the relocation of staff, will the Minister take into account the great difficulty that my constituents suffer in that whenever they send correspondence about disability to Norcross, or write to Blackpool about the self-employed family credit scheme, that mail seems to fall into a black hole and never emerge again? Will the Minister consider substantially upgrading the staff and the resources in those areas so that the self-employed and the disabled can get a decent service?

Mr. Lloyd

That is not directly related to the question, but it is a very important matter. I do not accept the black hole analogy, but the service can be improved and is being improved by the operational strategy of introducing computerisation throughout the system so that at any particular office an individual will be able to get all the information he wants on any benefit that affects him.