'Northern Powerhouse' department to close Sheffield office and move 247 jobs to London

[Denzil_DC]

The Government's 'Northern Powerhouse' department is to shut down its office in Sheffield, moving 247 jobs to London in a blow to the credibility of George Osborne's pet project.

And a dozen more regional offices of the Department for Business Innovation and Skills - including six in the North of England - are at risk of closure as the department moves to centralise policy staff.

....

The Prime Minister's spokesman said: "The Business Department, like all departments, seeks to operate as efficiently as it possibly can to deliver the best quality of service to provide the right kind of guidance and advice to ministers.

"This is part of their process of becoming leaner and more efficient."

The restructuring will see the department move to a centralised headquarters in London, with six regional business centres set up around the country.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/northern-powerhouse-department-close-sheffield-7265022#ICID=sharebar_twitter

You really couldn't make it up. Well, I doubt I could.

[T_i_B]

1. Pardon me for asking....

Last edited Sat Jan 30, 2016, 06:17 AM - Edit history (1)

But how is the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills the department responsible for the "Northern Powerhouse" gumph? Surely that's the department for Communities and Local Government?

It's a bad decision by the government, but it doesn't help when it's reported as badly as this.

[Denzil_DC]

2. Dunno.

You may well be more familiar with the ins and outs of departmental responsibilities outside Scotland than I am.

If it's an error in reporting, it's one the Guardian's also guilty of:

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is to close its largest office outside London, prompting accusations that the chancellor’s “northern powerhouse” project was empty rhetoric.

Plans to close the BIS office in Sheffield by 2018 were announced on Thursday by the department’s permanent secretary, Martin Donnelly, who told the centre’s 240 staff that all those faced with job losses would be provided with “comprehensive support”.

The closure is part of a programme to reduce the department’s operating costs and staff size by 2020. “Our operating model needs to be designed in a way that works for this smaller workforce with more streamlined structures,” said Donnelly.

“The decision to close Sheffield by 2018 has not been taken lightly. The unions are being consulted and will be involved throughout the process. It is my top priority that all our staff are fully briefed and consulted on the process. We will provide comprehensive support to all those facing a potential change or loss of job.”

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jan/28/government-business-department-shuts-only-non-london-office

Aside from the buzzword and despite photo ops and press splashes, it seems few in the North were much the wiser as of last November:

Two-thirds of people in the North of England have either never heard of, or know nothing about, the Northern Powerhouse, according to a BBC-commissioned survey.

The survey suggested 44% had never heard of the policy and 20% had heard of it but know nothing about it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-34787669

An earlier attempt by the BBC to clarify it seemed to express a degree of frustration, and highlights the irony that spurred my OP:

A minister for the "Northern Powerhouse" has been appointed. But where exactly is this powerhouse of northern England to be based, asks Chris Stokel-Walker.

Nearly a year ago Chancellor George Osborne stood up in Manchester's Museum of Science and Industry and announced the country's need for a "Northern Powerhouse".

This would be an attempt to corral the North's population of 15 million into a collective force that could begin to rival that of London and the South East. It would be "a collection of northern cities sufficiently close to each other that combined they can take on the world", he said.

...

But what exactly is the Northern Powerhouse?

"It's a concept, rather than any actual, physical thing at the moment," explains Ed Cox of think tank IPPR North, who lives and works in Manchester.

The hope is to redress the North-South economic imbalance, and to attract investment into northern cities and towns. While the capital is perceived to be driven by financial services, northern economies boast strong manufacturing, science, technology and service sectors.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-32720462

[T_i_B]

4. Who does fully understand what "Northern Powerhouse" actually means?

As far as I can see it's a hodge podge of ideas for the Northern Cities and surrounding areas, some of which is good & laudable, some of which appears to be either worryingly vague or a mess.

The biggest "northern powerhouse" thingy appears to be the proposal for elected mayors, which isn't part of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills's remit as far as I can see. In fact I'm left wondering what part of BIS's remit does fall under the "northern powerhouse" stuff.

[Denzil_DC]

5. In fact I'm left wondering what part of BIS's remit does fall under the "northern powerhouse" stuff.

Last edited Fri Jan 29, 2016, 10:28 AM - Edit history (1)

Well, it's obvious: the part that shifts employment and bureaucratic and decisionmaking investment to London, where it's sorely needed, where more voters live, and particularly more that are likely to vote Tory, and where the whole shebang is much easier to keep an eye on. You don't want natives running the show, and you don't want your own people going native. That would be anarchy.

We have a heck of a lot more devolution up here in Scotland than the NP envisages, but the government has been very careful to divert a substantial chunk of our budget to the Scottish Office, over which we have no control whatsoever, so that their viceroy (a Tory at the moment, previously a Lib Dem - both obnoxious and singularly useless, but that's by the by), can keep a close eye on us and hamper our efforts at self-government if we look like we're making a go of it to an embarrassing extent.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. The Guardian isn't claiming 'Northern Powerhouse' falls under BIS, just that the office closure

looks bad for the idea, since it's meant to be about encouraging industry (though their URL for the story seems to show they started by calling it the department's "only" office outside London, where the story says, now, it was the largest). The Mirror calls it the 'Northern Powerhouse' department, and it looks like that's sloppy reporting.

[Denzil_DC]

7. Thanks. I suspect that, as so often, a sloppy subeditor coming up with the headline

added to any confusion in the first para of the Mirror article.

You could read the first line as "a department responsible for activities related to the Government's 'Northern Powerhouse' initiative" rather than the journalese "The Government's 'Northern Powerhouse' department," but I'm not about to go deep into the weeds defending the Mirror's reporting on anything.

[T_i_B]

8. The perils of rhetorical bullsh*t....

The Tories use the toe curlingly embarrassing "Northern Powerhouse" term to sell any of their ideas for Northern England, and this gets used against them by their opponents on a regular basis.

Meanwhile the general population are left with little to no idea of what a "Northern Powerhouse" actually entails. The politicians selling & opposing it are doing far more to obscure than inform.

[Denzil_DC]

9. Indeed. In one of the articles I linked above,

one guy (a native northerner, I think) said he wasn't even sure what "the North" meant in this context.

I suspect where Gideon's concerned, it's "oop North", where t'ferrets frequent t'trouserlegs and t'black puddings roam free till t'arvest ee bah gum ah'll go to t'foot of our stairs.

A lot of it seems to revolve around the coming of the Manchester Mayor, who'll have godlike powers and be able to work miracles. I have seen some figures for sums of money to be invested in some aspects of infrastructure etc. bandied about. I expect governments to spend cash on that sort of thing anyway, without making a major deal of the fact they've left regions outside the southeast hotbed so neglected over the years that serious remedial action is needed and they want a hearty pat on the back for their troubles. Maybe that sounds ungrateful ...

[T_i_B]

10. What does "The North" mean in this context?

It's actually a very good question, and I would say that it comprises the following areas set to be covered by elected mayors under the the Tories plans

Liverpool City Region - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liverpool_City_Region
Manchester City Region - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Manchester_Statutory_City_Region
Leeds City Region - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leeds_City_Region
Sheffield City Region - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheffield_City_Region

There some oddtities to be found here. For starters Barnsley is in both L**ds and Sheffield city regions. not sure how that's going to work in practice. Also worth noting that Gideon Osbourne's constituency of Tatton is part of Manchester city region.

As another example that I have mentioned last time this subject came up, I live in Derbyshire, so I live in the East Midlands rather than the North. However, about half of Derbyshire is being divvied up between Manchester & Sheffield under the government's plans. I still don't think people are aware of what this means, and round these parts it won't go down well if our local public services are controlled from Sheffield rather than Chesterfield and Matlock.

[T_i_B]

11. In further (local) news on this subject...

...Chesterfield want to join Sheffield city region, but other local authorities in the area do not. And Derbyshire County Council is campaigning against the proposals

http://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/community/chesterfield-looks-to-join-up-with-sheffield/the-arguments-for-and-against/default.asp
http://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/community/chesterfield-looks-to-join-up-with-sheffield/five-myths-busted/default.asp
http://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/community/chesterfield-looks-to-join-up-with-sheffield/the-three-big-questions-sheffield-city-region-isnt-asking-you/default.asp (Is it me or is are these poll questions a bit skewed?)

On top of all this, you have to ask if there will be much enthusiasm in Whitehall for the "Northern Powerhouse" project now that Gideon Osbourne has left the government? The "Northern Powerhouse" did have the feel of an Osbourne pet project to it.

[Denzil_DC]

3. Actually, my bad. It looks like the Daily Mash covered this back in November

THE best place for the ‘Northern Powerhouse’ scheme is probably in London after all, the government has announced.

The massive investment project for Northern business and infrastructure will now take place in the capital instead, making it easier for government ministers to visit and find a decent restaurant.

Chancellor George Osborne said: “Improving the North would only have made it slightly less shit, but if we spend the money on London it will become even more amazing with moving pavements and a Jamie Oliver restaurant on every corner.

“We won’t need all those new rail links now because Northerners just need a tram to go to the bingo.

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/northern-powerhouse-relocated-to-london-20151117103906