Regional Organisation (Hansard, 16 January 1989)

§ Mr. Moore

In my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Lancashire, West (Mr. Hind) on 12 December 1988, at column458, I said that plans for moving some work from 21 local offices in London were under consideration. We 47W have now decided to go ahead with moving from those offices all work that does not need face-to-face contact with the public. All of these 21 offices will remain open and continue to provide a service to callers. Indeed, we intend to improve the network of offices by opening new offices in areas not previously served.

New Social Security centres to handle the relocated work will be set up in Glasgow, Belfast and Wigan. This means that we shall be creating over 1,000 jobs in parts of the United Kingdom where they will make a major contribution to our stated policy of encouraging economic development outside London and the south-east.

This project is a major initiative which allows us to address the serious problems that we face in London in delivering the standard of service that we would all like to see. Our staff in London do hard and dedicated work; but we have great difficulties over recruiting and retaining staff. Moving some work to areas of the country where we shall have a more stable workforce will allow us to offer a speedier and more accurate service. By relieving pressure on our London staff will also allow them to offer a better face-to-face service to our customers. I am therefore convinced that this initiative represents a major contribution to improving the service that we give our customers.

The report made a total of 54 recommendations for improving the way the regional organisation delivers its service. An action plan covering all the recommendations has now been produced. Copies of the action plan, and of a detailed information pack on the relocation project, have been placed in the Library.