The already booming public sector recruitment industry could receive an extra boost when the government moves 20,000 civil service jobs out of London.

One of the chancellor Gordon Brown's cost-saving measures in his pre-budget report was to move the jobs out of expensive London to smaller towns outside of the capital.

However there are fears that the move could mean existing civil service workers could end up being made redundant.

The Independent has reported that Brown hopes to save at least £3bn by ending the "Yes Minister" culture at Whitehall.

The UK's strong employment record was again a high point of the chancellor's pre-budget report.

But the chancellor still announced a raft of measures to attain the government's goal of full employment.

These included:

• Extra support for the unemployed by piloting mandatory training courses for people on the dole more than six months

• An extension of eligibility for the enhanced New Deal

• Enhanced help for lone parents, increasing the number of work interviews lone parents with children aged 14 or over are required to attend

• Reform of housing benefit

• Help for those on benefits to enter self-employment

• An extension of back to work help for those aged 60 and over and on the Pension Credit by October 2004

• Extra help for sick and disabled people by enabling job centre advisors to provide voluntary support for incapacity benefit customers wanting to return to work.