Latest news with #reorganisation
The National
3 days ago
- Business
- The National
Marco Rubio submits plan to overhaul US State Department
The US State Department on Thursday notified Congress of plans for a major reorganisation that would cut thousands of jobs and focus the department on promoting 'America's interests'. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the department needed slimming down after decades of bureaucratic bloat that had brought spiralling costs with no gains for US citizens. Mr Rubio first announced the reorganisation in April, ordering officials to assess how many jobs would be cut in the closure of 132 bureaux and offices and the merging of others. 'Since my first day as Secretary, I have said that this Department must move at the speed of relevancy and, in April announced a broad reorganisation of the Department to better achieve that goal,' Mr Rubio said in a statement. 'The plan submitted to Congress … will result in a more agile Department, better equipped to promote America's interests and keep Americans safe across the world.' Mr Rubio also posted a link to a Fox News story saying the department plans to merge or eliminate more than 300 offices and bureaus. An executive summary of the proposal, seen by Reuters, said nearly 45 per cent of the department's domestic offices would be merged, eliminated, consolidated or streamlined in the reorganisation. The department plans to cut thousands of US-based workers, reducing its civil service and foreign service domestic workforce by 3,448 people, according to the congressional notification, out of the 18,780 people as of May 4. Nearly 2,000 of those will be subject to job cuts while more than 1,500 will be deferred resignations. No job cuts are planned for locally employed staff or US personnel posted overseas. The State Department published a new organisation chart showing that a new under secretary of state position would be created to oversee foreign assistance and humanitarian affairs, which will include much of the work previously done by the US Agency for International Development, which was eliminated by Elon Musk and the Department for Government Efficiency.
BBC News
14-05-2025
- Health
- BBC News
NHS workers in East Midlands 'in the dark' amid job cuts
Hundreds of NHS workers in the East Midlands are facing uncertainty over their jobs because of a planned reorganisation. The government announced in March it wanted Integrated Care Boards (ICBs), which have the equivalent of nearly 2,000 full-time posts in the region, to halve their running wants millions of pounds of savings to be achieved by Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said the changes were part of a transformation plan to "tackle inefficiencies and drive up productivity in the NHS". The five ICBs for the East Midlands co-ordinate more than £25bn of health and social care spending. They are among the 42 ICBs across England facing cuts and their funding covers hospital services, GP contracts and NHS dentistry. 'Real blow' Managers in Partnership, a union that represents managers in the NHS, said care boards looking to make cuts have until the end of May to outline how they propose to reduce spending. The union's chief executive Jon Restell said he expected the impact on jobs to emerge over the summer. He said: "We've urged [the government] to consider not just the scale of the cuts but the timescale - we need a bit more time for ICBs to think about how they do this in a way that is safe and fair."People knew there was some tough decisions ahead but they had some hope the new government was on the right lines."It feels like a real blow in confidence to the future of the service."The announcement was made as part of a package of reforms in March which involved plans to scrap NHS England. It is the organisation's running costs that are under intense scrutiny and earmarked for about 50% cuts, with so-called "programme costs" also being examined for potential savings. Examples of the programmes include support to care homes and infection control advice services to GP practices, dentists and pharmacists The Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Rutland, Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire ICBs have combined running costs of more than £73m. A spokesperson for the East Midlands ICBs said it would support staff "as much as possible" throughout the added: "We are supporting our incredibly hardworking and valuable staff as much as possible during this time of uncertainty, so that they can continue to deliver the high-quality services our local communities expect and deserve."Figures obtained by the BBC have revealed there are the equivalent of 573 full-time jobs in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, 451 in Derby and Derbyshire and 286 employed in the ICB serving Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. 'Under pressure' A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said the government aims to "cut bureaucracy to invest even further in the front line" to "support hard-working staff and deliver a better service for patients and taxpayers' money".The NHS Confederation, which represents employers in the health service, said it was braced for significant job losses and had lobbied for a voluntary redundancy scheme to be put in place. Sarah Walter, director of the Integrated Care System Network for the confederation, added: "Moving forward at this kind of pace is a challenge. The announcement was made in March, the cost reduction plans are to be delivered by the end of May, and savings by the end of this year – that's a really tall order for leaders across the NHS."We will want to ensure that whilst delivering those cuts and savings we still are also able to ensure we've got enough attention on NHS services and the improvements we want to make for patients."
