Demoted Health Secretary Yvette Cooper is trying to get in on the devolution action with this story:
“Andy Burnham is to set up a ‘Department for Health and Social Care North’ to be based in Leeds, LBC can reveal.”
Cooper’s SpAd briefed that the move “will help bring decision-making closer to the communities we serve and strengthen our ability to improve health outcomes across the country.” Guido hates to pop her bubble, but this is worse than a gimmick…
‘DHSC North’ will work from the department’s existing offices in Leeds. They are in a building called Quarry House -sometimes call ‘the Kremlin’ by insiders – which first opened in 1993. It’s the same office they’ve had for years…
A government source tells Guido that staff attendance there is abysmal. Another SpAd quote:
“She has asked the Department to draw up plans that would complement the plans for Number 10 North on the other side of the Pennines, allowing Ministers to work from Quarry House in the North, and strengthening DHSC operations in other parts of the country.”
Ministers can of course work from there if they want already. What this probably means is spending hundreds of thousands on a rebrand and a new private office in the building for Cooper and other ministers to hide from staff in. Pop that in the bin…
