Government set to slash number of civil service jobs in Liverpool

May 18 2009 by David Bartlett, Liverpool Daily Post

Cunard Building

THE government is set to slash its presence in Liverpool by moving more than 40 key civil service jobs to Manchester.

The Government Office North West (GONW) will surrender the lease on its offices in the Cunard building in 2011 and move staff to Manchester, leaving just eight behind in new premises.

Unions fear the transfer of work away from Liverpool means a permanent government presence of any significance will be lost to Merseyside.

In 2003, officials pledged to move 2,000 civil service jobs to Liverpool.

Four years later, it was revealed 514 jobs were transferred to the city - but 700 were lost.

Last night, GONW said it had a responsibility to deliver “best value” for the taxpayer.

It said its decision to scale down its Liverpool presence was the result of responsibility for European programmes being transferred to the Northwest Development Agency (NWDA).

But Liberal Party Leaderl councillor Steve Radford, who has taken up the issue, said moving so many jobs to Manchester would be counter-productive and the city needed a GONW presence to assist its economic growth.

Last night’s revelation followed wide-scale dismay that the government was looking at creating a “Whitehall of the North” in Manchester.

That prompted the creation of a campaign, Think Big Liverpool, to persuade the government to relocate civil service jobs to Merseyside.

Last night, campaigners said the news was “certainly not positive” and efforts needed to be redoubled.

The Liverpool office of GONW takes its roots from the Merseyside Task Force set up in 1983 in response to the 1981 Toxteth riots.

The organisation underwent a number of incarnations before becoming the Government Office for Merseyside, which merged into GONW in 1998.

Staff working from Cunard building have delivered a number of key schemes in Merseyside, including two tranches of Objective One funding from Europe.

A spokesman for the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) said the Liverpool GONW office would have cut its workforce by 41% by next month due to government pressure to make savings.

He said: “We believe the continual transfer of work away from Liverpool will mean a permanent office of any significance in Merseyside will not be retained once the lease for Cunard building comes to an end in 2011.

“We believe the economic, social and environmental issues facing Merseyside today justify the retention of a permanent office in Liverpool after 2010 and should carry the same weight as they have to retain a separate Government Office for London or the South West.

“We contend the decision to scale down a major government office presence in Liverpool will have a detrimental impact on the residents and business community of Merseyside.”

Cllr Radford added: “It would downgrade the role of Liverpool and the needs of Merseyside.

“This is about retaining an ability to respond to local needs, and this is counter productive.”

Frank McKenna, of Think Big Liverpool, said the scaling back of the GONW in Liverpool was inevitable after responsibility for European programmes transferred to the NWDA.

He said: “Moving out of Liverpool to Manchester makes it more natural for the government of the day to identify the city as the place to relocate staff.

“We are still in the running for jobs and must focus and concentrate on that.”

A spokesman for GONW said: “Our role is twofold.

“We make sure national policy works to best effect in the North West and ensure the region’s concerns are heard in Whitehall.

“But like every part of the public sector, we need to deliver best value for the resources we have been given to do that job.

“We have reduced the size of our operation in both Manchester and Liverpool over the last year as we strive to become a smaller, more strategic organisation.

“In Liverpool, a major factor in the decision was the fact responsibility for European programmes has been transferred to the NWDA.

“We will not renew our lease on our existing base in the Cunard building when it runs out in 2011.

“At the same time we have said that we will retain a presence, albeit much reduced, after that.

“While there will be fewer Liverpool-based posts, colleagues based in Manchester will continue to work flexibly and use our future Liverpool base as and when required.”