Could Labour's reform proposals see more civil servants based in Scotland?

The Labour Party is expected to “fundamentally reshape” the civil service with proposals to incentivise under-performing staff to leave and have pay packets linked to performance.

These reforms will see a promise to new “mutually agreed exit” plans to incentivise those performing below their job requirements to leave, and to have under-performing senior civil servants put on development plans with the possibility of being sacked if there is no improvement within six months.

However Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden has suggested the reforms could include basing more civil servants outside of London, including in Scotland.

Speaking to BBC Sundays with Laura Kuenssberg, Mr McFadden said: “I think the central civil service would and can be smaller.

“I want to see more civil servants working outside London, where I think the state can get better value for money.

“My Cabinet Office has a base in Glasgow and we have fantastic people working there - we want to see more of that.

“We also want to see more data and digitally-skilled people in the civil service.

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“[There is] not enough at the moment - I’d like to double that proportion by the end of the decade.”

Mr McFadden also suggested UK ministers “will be radical” in their civil service reforms, which will be outlined in full on Thursday.

He said this is not an “ideological approach to stripping back the state”, but added the UK Government wants “bang for our buck”.

He said: “Performance management is part of every big organisation, but it’s an important thing for you and your viewers to remember - we’re a centre-left government.

“We believe in good public provision - that’s why we fought the election saying we wanted to have more teachers in schools, more neighbourhood police officers [and] why we wanted to get waiting lists down.

“It is part of what we believe in that the state can provide both security and opportunity for people.

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“That will guide us in our actions, it’s up front in our policies, so we will be radical about this, but it’s about getting bang for our buck in terms of the outcomes for the public, it isn’t an ideological approach to stripping back the state.”

He added he will not set out a target of how many heads need to be cut from the civil service, but pointed to the fact that staff numbers have risen by 15,000 in two years.

The move to reform the civil service has been criticised by the FDA union.

Dave Penman, general secretary of the civil servants’ union, said: “If the government is serious about transforming public services they must set out what the substance of reform looks like, not just the retreading of failed ideas and narratives.”

He added meaningful reform “must put substance before headlines” and said “ministers need to set realistic priorities”.

Mr Penman added: “[The] government should get on with the difficult job of setting those priorities rather than announcing a new performance management process for civil servants every other month.”