§ Mr. Parryasked the Minister for the Civil Service (1) if he will make a statement on Her Majesty's Government's current policy with regard to the dispersal of Civil Service jobs to (a) Merseyside and (b) Liverpool;
(2) what is his estimate of the number of Civil Service jobs which will be dispersed to (a) Merseyside and (b) Liverpool in 1985–86; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. HayhoeThe Government are committed to carrying out the dispersal programme announced on 26 July 1979. That means 1,250 posts will be transferred to Merseyside. No provision was made for the transfer of posts to Liverpool.
To date, 1,064 of the posts designated for Merseyside have gone with the Home Office move having been completed in June 1983. Questions of detail concerning the timing of the remaining moves are matters for the Secretaries of State concerned.
Regional needs will continue to be taken fully into account should there be a need to locate new work or relocate existing work in the future.