NOS News•today, 3:00 PM
In the future, government officials will more often work in an office outside the Randstad. The government wants to better distribute government employment across the country, according to a proposal by outgoing Minister De Jonge of the Interior and Kingdom Relations (BZK). “Right now, government buildings are too crowded together in the Randstad,” said the minister. He doesn’t think that’s wise. “The government must also be present in the region.”
The central government now has approximately 330,000 jobs. Most of them – around 200,000 – are located in South and North Holland and Utrecht. In the rest of the Netherlands, 40 percent of civil servants work, for example at Duo in Groningen and the ABP pension fund in Heerlen.
Calculator
De Jonge now wants decisions about housing new government services and major expansions or major shrinkages (greater than 100 people) to consider a location outside the Randstad. The Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations will have an important role in such a decision, the proposal states.
The responsible minister of the civil service ultimately makes the decision. De Jonge does not want to give concrete examples, but emphasizes that there are more government services than just the ministries that cannot leave The Hague.
The minister mentions inspections, tax offices, offices of Rijkswaterstaat and the Judicial Institutions Service as examples. New implementation organizations may be established and they will not automatically be located in the three provinces mentioned. “Too often, people have decided to settle in the Randstad with a calculator on their lap, because that is easy and efficient,” said the minister.
Digital
De Jonge says that because of the better options for working digitally, it should not be a problem if the head office is further away. “Distance is no longer a determining factor in this day and age when many people work digitally.” There are hardly any government civil servants working in Zeeland and Friesland and De Jonge thinks the complaint from the provinces about this is “justified”.
The discussion about the distribution of government services has been going on since the 1960s. Successive governments have worked on distribution in various ways, but this was not always easy.
In 1986, the headquarters of the PTT (the state-owned Postal, Telegraphy and Telephony company) moved to Groningen. After the privatization of the state-owned company in 1989, what is now KPN is back in the Randstad and the company has its head office in Rotterdam.
The Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations is now mapping out exactly what regions want and can offer when it comes to suitable work locations.
