Private spin doctors '˜to explain Sheffield office axe to Government staff'

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is inviting communications firms to bid for a £55,000 contract to improve staff awareness about its BIS 2020 restructuring programme, which aims to reduce operational costs by £350m.

As part of that process, it was recently confirmed the controversial closure of the department’s Sheffield office will take place by 2018, affecting 247 employees as their work is moved to London.

A tender document for the work said: “An agency is sought to help the department as part of the BIS 2020 transformation programme.

“The agency needs to provide expert capability in helping organisations to refine and ground narratives and business models, and be skilled in doing this by involving and engaging staff at all levels.”

It said one key objective will be to help staff ‘better understand the new business model’, which is based on a principle of ‘Simpler, Cheaper and Better’.

The document said the agency which is employed should act in a ‘low-key way’ while shaping the approach.

Details have been revealed after public spending watchdog the National Audit Office announced it would be investigating the department’s plans for cuts.

Sheffield Central MP Paul Blomfield said the attempt to hire outside consultants was a waste of public money and highlights the question marks over the decision to close the Sheffield office.

He said: “This goes to show how weak the business department recognises its case is that they’ve had to employ spin doctors to sell it to an unconvinced staff.

“It’s also a further waste of public money.

“The department should be thinking creatively about how they can best benefit from policy-making outside the capital at lower cost, not hiring communications experts at taxpayers’ expense to spin their flawed plans.”