§ Mr. BettsTo ask the Attorney-General 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.
The Attorney-GeneralI have no plans to relocate any civil servants in the legal secretariat to the Law Officers or the Serious Fraud Office. The property division of the Treasury Solicitor's Department—nearly one quarter of the total staff—was relocated to Taunton in August 1991 but no further parts of the office are suitable for relocation. Some 90 per cent. of the staff of the Crown prosecution service are located near to the courts throughout England and Wales which deal with the criminal cases prosecuted by the service. The scope for devolving headquarters posts to locations outside London is kept continuously under review.