MINISTER for the Cabinet Office, Michael Gove, has welcomed a new report which makes the case for relocating as many as 49,500 civil servants from Whitehall to various locations across the North of England in a move which could put rocket boosters under the government’s levelling-up agenda.

The relocations would include Department for Work and Pensions in Stockton and Home Office, UK Border Force and Prison and Probation in Newcastle.

The index also provided other alternative locations - such as Bolton, Darlington, North Lincolnshire, Middlesbrough and Sheffield - which could act as alternative cluster locations if needed.

The research published by the Northern Policy Foundation, whose board members include a number of the so-called ‘Red Wall’ Conservative MPs, analyses the current structure of the Civil Service and previous attempts made over the past 70 years to relocate officials to help boost regional economies.

The paper authored by Tom Lees and Dr Sam Turnpenney, a former NASA data scientist, consists of a unique seven component Relocation Index to objectively assess optimal areas in the North of England which could benefit most from the effects of relocating government departments and agencies.

The index looks at population size, skill levels, job density, productivity levels, digital connectivity, house prices and the relevant “location quotient” that matches each department’s needs.

The report proposes the creation of 11 clusters across the North of England where departments and agencies could be relocated. It estimates that such a move could have an economic impact of nearly £3billion a year.