26 October 2007
The Ministry of Defence plans to axe a quarter of staff at the department's London headquarters and to relocate others to the regions by 2010.
The MoD announced on October 23 that the next stage of its efficiency programme would mean 1,300 job cuts in London and the relocation of 800 posts.
Department officials said the initiative would free £50m annually for reinvestment into frontline services.
Under the plan, staff in London will be offered relocated posts, while ministers, chiefs of staff and senior officials will assume greater responsibility for changes and budgets.
Defence Secretary Des Browne said: 'Operations are rightly where the focus of the MoD should be. [This] will make the department better able to respond to the needs of those on operations.'
The cuts will involve mostly lower-grade civil servants working in finance, administration, facilities management and personnel. Only military staff have been offered a 'no compulsory redundancy' guarantee.
The initiative has been condemned by the Public and Commercial Services trade union, which is balloting its 300,000 members over action against the government's civil service reforms.
PFoct2007
