Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen’s bid to bring senior Treasury civil servants to Teesside as part of the government’s planned relocation of government departments received a significant boost today after the region’s major universities back the plans.
In a joint letter to the Chancellor Rishi Sunak Teesside University and Durham University got behind the bid that would see 750 senior Whitehall officials move out of the capital to a purpose built northern economic campus, dubbed ‘Treasury North’.
Durham University is regularly ranked as one of top 40 universities around the world for the quality of its business and economics courses.
Writing to Mr Sunak the University Vice-Chancellors said: “We are each based within 20 miles of the proposed Tees Valley campus location. Every year we produce thousands of highly skilled graduates across a wide suite of disciplines. We know that they would value the opportunity to place their skills at the Treasury’s service in the North and that they have the quality to deliver in the wide range of roles that the Treasury requires.”
In October the Prime Minister announced that 22,000 civil servants will be moved out of London by 2030 in the biggest reorganisation of the Civil Service in a generation.
In his bid to secure the most powerful and important government department Mayor Houchen has put forward a number of locations to the Cabinet Office who are overseeing the reorganisation of government departments.
In their letter the universities pledged to work with the Treasury “in a joined-up way” to ensure the department’s “skills and research needs continue to be met and to making Treasury North a success in the Tees Valley.”
Commenting Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said: “I am delighted that major universities from across the region have come out and backed my plan to bring hundreds of senior civil servant jobs to Teesside.
“I know some Whitehall officials have an outdated view of Teesside and think it’s all flat caps and grime, well there is no better challenge to this than having these highly respected universities say loudly and proudly that our region does in fact have the skilled workforce they would need.
“The relocation of the Civil Service is a once in a lifetime opportunity, if government get it right not only will we see a major change in outlook from those who make policy, but young people from across Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool will see a career within the Civil Service as a real possibility. If they get it wrong all we will see is civil servants move from one metropolitan city to another like Leeds, Manchester or Newcastle, in doing so squandering a major opportunity to change how policymakers see the rest of the country.
“The Chancellor understand how critical this decision is and that it is key to showing people across Teesside, who lent the government their vote at the last general election, that levelling up really means something and is more than an empty slogan.”
