§ Mr. BettsTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 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. WaldegraveParts of my Department have already been relocated to provincial centres. The headquarters of the Occupational Health Service was relocated to Edinburgh in August 1989. In addition, the Civil Service College, Recruitment and Assessment Services Agency and Her Majesty's Stationery Office are based outside London: at Sunningdale, Basingstoke and Norwich respectively. The Central Office of Information has a regional network across the country. I see no scope for further relocation of the remaining small central core.