Government unveils hub structure to replace COI

The Government earlier announced plans for a series of cross-departmental hubs and it has now unveiled the structure in full.

There will be seven hubs in total, each comprising related Government departments. The hubs are:

• Business Innovation and Skills, the Treasury and Culture Media and Sport;

• The Department of Work and Pensions and HMRC;

• The Department of Health;

• The Home Office and the Ministry of Justice;

• The Cabinet Office and the Department for Education;

• DEFRA, the Department of Energy and Climate Change, the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Department for Transport; and

• The Ministry of Defence, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development.

The structure will officially launch on 2 April, when the new Government Communications Centre, operating from the Cabinet Office, will also launch. The Cabinet Office says the GCC will take on many of the co-ordinated central Government services previously handled by the COI. 

A Cabinet Office spokesman indicates that the new hubs will commission design work with guidance and advice from the GCC. 

The Cabinet Office spokesman also earlier said that the design frameworks operated by the COI would pass over to the Government Procurement Service and be replaced as their terms concluded. The hubs will commission design through these GPS frameworks.

The spokesman says the hubs will be made up of existing staff from departments and staff moving over from the COI, while the GCC will be made up of around 100 staff.

Further confirmation was made that there will be a  continuation on the freeze on all non essential marketing spend across government.