Apparently the government is wasting a tremendous amount of money on office space every year (a whopping £325).  Most interesting though it appears the treasury is the biggest offender, with each member of staff being allocated between 13.3 to 21.9 square metres of space (isn’t that bigger than a lot of people’s accommodation in London?).  Are we surprised by this revelation?  No, or at least we shouldn’t be. 

But what to do about the problem?  The recommendation is, surprise surprise, that more positions in the civil service should be moved out of London (to Labour marginals by any chance?).  But to accept this recommendation in its entirety would mean accepting that the current level of staffing in the civil service is acceptable and indeed necessary. 

The reality of course is that present staffing levels are far from acceptable, with too many people doing non-jobs (just ask anyone you know who works in the civil service; although make sure you have a bit of time because the tales of waste and inefficiency tend to go on for quite a while). 

So certainly, let’s reduce the amount of office space in London and move staff outside the capital, but let’s also give some serious thought to what jobs are actually needed in the civil service.