SCORES more civil service jobs could be coming to York as MP Hugh Bayley continues to champion the city in Whitehall.

The York MP said this week's announcement, that more than 100 jobs in the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) were coming to the city, was not the last.

He said he wanted to add to the 1,000 civil service jobs that had relocated from the south east to York since 1997.

These include 440 civilian Ministry of Defence (MoD) jobs, more than 100 jobs with the new Finance Assistance Scheme and 40 jobs with the Land Registry. However, there were 300 jobs lost at York Pensions Centre at Monk's Cross last year.

Mr Bayley said: "York is a prime location for the Government to move civil service jobs.

"I am always trawling through departments talking to ministers and putting questions down in the House to find out what their department relocations proposals are. I work very closely with york-england.com (the inward investment agency for York and North Yorkshire), taking expressions of interest I get from ministers and working with them to try to turn them into a firm agreement.

"That was exactly what happened with Defra.

"I'm having continuing discussions and there are a number of other projects ongoing."

As reported in the Evening Press on Wednesday, 110 jobs at Defra will be relocated to King's Pool, at Peaseholme Green, York, with staff due to start them next spring.

Mr Bayley said despite some job losses in the past, York was still gaining in many ways, and would continue to do so as work continued to bring even more posts to the city.

He said: "York is a net gainer. Overall, York has gained civil service jobs. This is because the city has established a reputation in London for providing an effective welcome when Government decides to move jobs to the city. That's a credit to york-england.com and the City of York Council.

"They work closely with civil service agencies to find out what skills are needed, what help is needed for people relocating and they also have a focus on how many jobs will be recruited locally.

"The majority of these jobs are locally recruited."

The programme to redistribute 20,000 civil servants around the country was announced by the Government in 2004, following the Lyons Review.

Defra is set to begin a staff survey in London to see how many staff are willing to move to York. Where staff do not want to relocate, the vacancies will be filled by people living in the York area.

Updated: 10:29 Friday, May 13, 2005