§ Mr. BettsTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the number of civil servants in his Department who could be relocated to provincial centres as part of the policy of devolving and decentralising Government Departments.
§ Mr. AitkenThe Ministry of Defence is already a well-dispersed Department. Currently, 87 per cent. of civilian staff are based outside London and 60 per cent. are outside London and the south-east. Since 1979, some 2,500 staff have been relocated from London and the south-east to sites in Glasgow, south Wales, Sutton Coldfield, Cheadle Hulme and Swindon, amongst others. A recent review of MOD headquarters, together with the planned collocation of the procurement executive in Bristol, will result in the relocation of further 6,000 to 7,000 posts from London by the mid-1990s, leaving only about 3 per cent. of MOD civilian staff in London.