A GOVERNMENT Minister today promised to urge Cabinet colleagues to consider relocating parts of their departments to York.

The comments from Work and Pensions Secretary Andrew Smith provided some hope for 313 workers at York Pensions Centre following a depressing 24 hours.

Staff were stunned yesterday when Mr Smith announced plans to axe the centre at Monk's Cross, plus another one in Liverpool.

But Mr Smith said the centre could be taken on by another Whitehall department, following the Lyons Review published earlier this year.

The report, commissioned by Chancellor Gordon Brown, proposes to shift 20,000 civil service jobs from London and the south-east to the regions.

Mr Smith said: "I will be actively pressing Cabinet colleagues to consider moving to York, where the quality of staff and facilities figure highly."

He said he had discussed the issue in a transatlantic telephone call with Hugh Bayley, Labour MP for York, who is currently in the USA.

Mr Smith said: "I have already spoken to Hugh Bayley about the prospect of other parts of Government taking on the excellent staff and facilities that we have in York.

"I know that the constructive approach of the local authority and Hugh Bayley himself will help enormously as we take forward the discussions with other departments and private sector business.

"There is set to be a lot of rejigging of Government departments as a result of the Lyons Review, with jobs moving away from London and the potential to relocate."

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Defence already have offices in York.

The Evening Press revealed yesterday how 313 staff - not 404, as the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) initially announced - were to be axed in York.

The bleak news came less than two years after the Pensions Centre was opened.

Mr Smith blamed a huge efficiency drive within the DWP, which will shed 30,000 jobs by 2008.

Staff will be offered other jobs or voluntary redundancy, but were warned of compulsory redundancy "as a last resort".

Ryedale MP John Greenway branded the decision "a tragedy" for the workforce.

Mr Bayley demanded "joined-up Government", and said the DWP should encourage Defra and the MoD to move jobs to York.

Updated: 10:50 Wednesday, June 30, 2004