A new major government campus will be created in Manchester, with multiple departments moving skilled roles to the city to boost collaboration, solve local issues and improve services.
The new Digital and AI Innovation Campus will partner with local government and universities, including Manchester Met, to help deliver the government’s missions, improve the talent pipeline into government and boost growth and opportunity.
Plans for the new campus were announced as part of plans to relocate thousands of civil service jobs to 13 regional government hubs across the UK.
The changes will allow talented young people in each region to progress straight from school or university into the Civil Service and rise all the way up to the most senior roles, without ever having worked in Whitehall.
Professor Steve Rothberg, Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Manchester Metropolitan University, said: “We are very excited by the announcement that the government’s new Digital and AI Innovation Campus will come to Manchester.
“Major programmes such as our Centre for Digital Innovation, led from Manchester Met’s renowned Centre for Enterprise, are already showcasing the remarkable potential of digital and AI innovation to transform public services and drive economic growth.
“Such programmes are delivered through the Innovation Greater Manchester partnership, bringing together Greater Manchester Combined Authority, the city-region’s universities and regional businesses; they show how we have the dynamic support in place to develop advanced skills and foster innovation for growth.
“We warmly welcome the new campus into the Greater Manchester community and look forward to a mutual benefit that will further our city’s ambitions to be one of the foremost digital cities in the world.”
Manchester is already home to the second headquarters of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport of the United Kingdom (DCMS), as well as a key base for GCHQ.
The new campus will harness the city’s reputation as a global digital hub, of which Manchester Met plays a key part, with the government announcing plans to develop a new building in Ancoats in Manchester with the potential to host 7,000 civil servants in the city region.
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Pat McFadden, said: “To deliver our Plan for Change, we are taking more decision-making out of Whitehall and moving it closer to communities all across the UK.
“By relocating thousands of Civil Service roles, we will not only save taxpayers money, we will make this Government one that better reflects the country it serves. We will also be making sure that Government jobs support economic growth throughout the country.
“As we radically reform the state, we are going to make it much easier for talented people everywhere to join the Civil Service and help us rebuild Britain.”
