THE North-East was urged last night to step up efforts to win some of the 20,000 civil service jobs being moved out of London.

A long-awaited report by Sir Michael Lyons said Whitehall departments had identified thousands of jobs that could be relocated and he recommended that the plans should be taken forward urgently.

He told ministers that there should be a strongly-enforced presumption against choosing London and the South-East for new civil service activities.

Sir Michael, who was asked last year by Chancellor Gordon Brown and Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott to look into the scope for relocating work out of the capital, said 20,000 jobs could move to the regions, with more to follow.

The transfers will save more than £2bn in property and wages costs.

He said that for every two civil services jobs which moved, a further job could be created, providing a huge economic boost for the regions

He was critical of government departments for not being radical enough with their relocation proposals. In the North-East, only Newcastle was mooted as a possible location by the departments.

But he renewed hopes that other areas in the region could be in line for public sector jobs if they put forward sound cases.

Alan Clarke, chief executive of the regional development agency One NorthEast, welcomed his invitation.

"This is a huge opportunity to improve the efficiency of Government, address regional disparities and achieve a step change in Whitehall culture.

"The challenge is to manage these relocations as part of a coordinated strategic programme, not a piecemeal approach," he said.

Alistair Arkley, chairman of the Tees Valley Partnership, said he was delighted to hear there was still hope for other areas in the region to attract relocated jobs.

"We had been extremely worried about some of the comments made about the Tees Valley so far in the process, for example Darlington and Hartlepool were both deemed too small to be considered, which struck me as ridiculous.

"Stockton and Middlesbrough were the only places considered in the Tees Valley and they were only considered for low level work, which is also ridiculous.

"I think that the civil servants might have preconceived ideas as being not the sort of area they would like to live and work, and that could explain that very narrow focus they have had.

"I think the onus is upon us in the Tees Valley to convince them there is a very good working environment and living accommodation."

Sir Michael dashed hopes that entire government departments - such as the Department of Trade and Industry - could be moved out of London. He concluded that civil servants with an input into policy were best suited to cities with the appropriate "skill clusters".

But he said many other locations, with "low labour and accommodation costs and an excellent standard of living" should be considered for less prestigious jobs.

Last night, Steve Rankin, regional director of the Confederation of British Industry, said he thought it was the type of jobs coming to the region that were important.

"One should be talking at this stage not about a specific place in the North-East but talking about the region as a whole benefiting from decentralisation.

"If this is simply low value-added jobs, low paid, low skilled, it will do very little to regenerate the region. What we need are high-value jobs, for example scientific jobs."

Tony Flynn, leader of Newcastle City Council, said: "Newcastle-Gateshead is particularly thriving at the moment and I'm sure there will be many people happy to relocate to the North-East.