GOVERNMENT OFFICE FOR THE NORTH EAST (GO-NE)
1. At the Select Committee hearing on 31
January 2001, Mr Turner commented that during the Committee's
visit to Newcastle he had gained the impression that GO-NE seemed
to be a DETR-driven regional office (Question 1041). This note
sets out the background to GO-NE's work on behalf of a number
of Government departments.
2. The mission statement for all the Government
Offices is "To work with regional partners and local people
to maximise competitiveness and prosperity in the regions and
to support integrated policies for an inclusive society".
As part of this, one role of senior staff is to communicate policy
to the region and to provide feedback to Departments on the views
of opinion formers, across a very wide range of policies.
3. GO-NE's functions cover the full range
of regional work for DTI, DfEE and DETR; an important crime reduction
remit for the Home Office; and the regional presence of DCMS.
In addition the office has secondees from the NHS, Police, Local
Authorities and Asylum Seekers Support Service; and a European
Programmes Secretariat, aimed at socio-economic development, which
includes about 15 staff seconded from partner organisations in
the region. From April 2001 the office will gain a Rural Directorate
of seven staff from MAFF, led by a senior civil servant from MAFF.
4. The office carries out two particular
national functions throught the Residential Training Unit for
DfEE, and the Local Authority Orders Unit for DETR. GO-NE is co-located
with COI and the Drugs Prevention Advisory Service, and currently
accommodates Trade Partners UK and the Small Business Service's
regional management team for DTI; it works closely with all of
them.
5. Government Offices work on the principle
that, although staff are nominally allocated to specific departments
for pay purposes, all are GO citizens who can be posted—on
merit—to jobs outside their original department. This is
an illustration of the principle of joined-up working, set during
the foundation of the GOs and reiterated in the PIU "Reaching
Out" report. In GO-NE over half of the staff either work
for a Department other than the one they joined, or work for several
Departments on cross cutting issues.
6. The departmental origins of the GO's
Senior Civil Service team are as follows:
— Regional Director, Bob Dobbie—DTI
— Director of Competitiveness, Industry
and Europe, Rob Fallon—DTI
— Director of Education Skills and
Regeneration, Denise Caudle—DETR
— Director of Planning Enviornment
and Transport, Jim Darlington—DETR
In addition there are three Grade six Directors,
just below SCS level, one each from the Home Office, DfEE and
DETR.
7. Approximately 30 staff (21 per cent of
the current staff in post) have direct experience of working in
departmental headquarters. Most of the staff were originally recruited
to the civil service from the North East, and have spent their
careers in a variety of offices in the region.
DETR
13 February 2001
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