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Irrational: Government Office Network to close

26 July 2010

1,700 staff in the eight government offices are at risk.

This decision is irrational as there is no evidence that a cost/benefit analysis, risk analysis, or Equality Impact Assessment was conducted prior to the decision so the Government don’t know whether the proposal will save money etc. It’s also irrational because far from supporting the coalition government’s 'localism' agenda, the announcement seriously undermines it. Staff in the Government Offices had already been approached to advise on how localism could operate, drawing on their expertise in co-ordinating the work of 13 government departments and their role in delivering central government services and policy locally. This expertise is now in peril.

You have no doubt have heard of Mr Cameron’s Big Society idea. This will be piloted in four areas: Eden Valley in Cumbria (local Government Office is in Manchester), Windsor and Maidenhead ( Government Office in Guildford) , Sutton (GO London) and Liverpool (Government Office in Liverpool).

In an announcement (it’s dated below) on the No10 website concerning the “big society” it states that:

These communities (Eden Valley etc) will become the great training grounds where the Big Society will be built with officials from the Department of Communities and Local Government assisting them.

This web posting was dated 19 July; yet on 22 July the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government announced that Government offices covering three of the areas are to close (GO London was already slated to shut); so the offices which house the officials from the Department of Communities and Local Government, the officials who will assist the pilot areas, will be closed and the officials dispensed with. So the closures will undermine the Big Society.

The union is opposing the closures and the loss of the vital knowledge and skills that the 1,700 staff possess.
 

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