Location, location, location
The SDLP leader Mark Durkan today welcomed news that work on a regional centre for the Public Prosecution Service in Derry is to be completed in September. He argued that the PPS policy should set an example to the public sector as a whole, which "must move away from a Belfast-focused mindset".
Yesterday the Stormont Finance Committee had a briefing from Professor Sir George Bain, who is chairing a review of public sector job location due to report in the summer. He promised to be specific in his eventual recommendations. But until his report is published he stuck, by and large, to general principles.
However he did say the easiest bodies to locate in the regions would be new ones, specifically mentioning the new Victims Commission (a group which, the DUP's Peter Weir joked, some already see an as exercise in public sector job creation). So could the Commission be based in, say, the North West?
The professor also mentioned the new Education and Skills Authority, although he acknowledged that this is not exactly an entirely new body as it will be made up from the existing Education Boards.
If the Executive wants to pursue a policy of job dispersal, Sir George emphasised it will require political will and courage. There are likely to be personnel difficulties to be negotiated, and the costs of any move may appear more tangible than the potential benefits in terms of economic growth in areas beyond Belfast.
Sir George also gave a word of warning to those who think that if you put down a big departmental headquarters in a deprived area it will necessarily transform the district's economic prospects. He cited as an example the hotels and offices on the Belfast Gasworks site, arguing the the development had not had a significant beneficial impact on people living in the Markets and Donegall Pass.
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