SO, let's get this straight. The Government is closing York's pensions centre as part of its war on waste.

But isn't it wasteful to open a new office in York, pay to relocate many workers there, then close the place down less than two years later?

The new pension Service has done all the Government wants, met Tony Blair's beloved targets - this time on ensuring millions of older people received their pension credit.

And what do the staff get as a reward?

Their P45s.

Oh, and a cockle-warming thank you from the man booting them out, work and pensions minister Andrew Smith. ("'I'm struck by how positive pensioners' experience of the Pension Service has been," he said in May. What a terrific guy.) If the Government wants to go on an efficiency drive it should begin with a cull of the army of "advisers" in Whitehall who are on a king's ransom for no obvious reason.

Instead it sacks those civil servants who actually help the public, eight out ten of whom earn less than £24,000.

Well, this certainly bodes well for all these other London-based Government posts York is chasing.

They are just the sort of important, secure jobs York needs to replace our old fly-by-night industries such as confectionery, insurance and carriage making.

GORDON Brown groupie Andrew Smith is a card, mind you.

On the same day he announces he is cutting the pensions centre in York, he issues another, quite separate press release. "All employees should have access to a pension scheme or advice on pensions in the workplace claims Andrew Smith, Secretary of State, as he today launches a groundbreaking new Pensions Information Pack for employers and employees," the release begins.

Send off for your pensions pack and you will find a section answering common pensions questions.

No doubt this one is included: "What happens to my pension if I am made redundant?"

INCIDENTALLY, parliamentary sketch writer Simon Carr described Andrew Smith looking "as though he gets his dinner by sticking grass straws into an ant hill".

JOHN Greenway needn't get too smug either. The Ryedale MP, who described the job losses as a "tragedy", should remember that the Conservatives' Shadow Chancellor Oliver Letwin is looking to slash civil service jobs too.

In a speech in February Mr Letwin announced that if Whitehall could not produce its own efficiency savings the civil service would be cut back from 500,000 to 400,000.

ON a more positive note, the Diary is delighted to record the name of the raffle prize winner from the Elvis Academy event held at the Tap & Spile, Monkgate, York, last month.

She is Suzie McKenna, of Clifton, York, and her prize is terrific: a week's stay in Heartbreak Hotel, Memphis, and a trip to Elvis's Graceland home.

Apparently Tap & Spile landlord Jack received a ticking off from the police for holding the charity event without an outside entertainment special events licence. So he intends to apply for one for his next al fresco jamboree: the Party In The Car Park.

A WOMAN phoned up the Evening Press newsdesk the other day with a question: "Is that complaints for Stansted airport?"

Well, in a world where your local insurance agent is based in New Dehli, anything is possible.

Write to: The Diary, Chris Titley, The Evening Press, 76-86 Walmgate, York YO1 9YN

Email diary@ycp.co.uk

Telephone (01904) 653051 ext 337

Updated: 09:29 Wednesday, June 30, 2004