JOBS are definitely to go at Titchfield's Office for National Statistics.

Civil servants based at ONS are bracing themselves to be told how many of the their 1,100 jobs will be axed.

ONS chief executive Len Cook spoke out in May to quell job loss fears among staff saying that relocation "did not add up" and that he wanted to end uncertainty.

However, in his spending review yesterday, Chancellor Gordon Brown announced that up to 600 ONS jobs will be relocated from the south-east to Bristol or South Wales.

An ONS spokesman admitted that jobs would be moved from Titchfield with an announcement due after a relocation task force reports at the end of this month.

Fareham MP Mr Hoban is seeking urgent clarification and has written to the ONS demanding clarification over the announcement.

The Tory frontbencher said: "Staff at Titchfield received reassurances that jobs were safe.

"Despite this Gordon Brown suggested that some jobs at Titchfield might go to Bristol and South Wales.

"While I understand that ONS will keep a substantial and viable presence at Titchfield, it does appear that some jobs will move from there to the south-west.

"This creates uncertainty for people working at Titchfield.

"I want to know how many jobs would be moved from Titchfield and the timescale for this."

The chancellor revealed 20,030 civil service jobs would be shifted from London and the south-east to the regions as part of a £2.3 billion cost-cutting drive.

Whitehall sources said the lion's share would be transferred from ONS headquarters in London.

A ONS spokesman said: "There is a commitment to retain Titchfield. Some jobs will be relocated but how many is impossible to say yet.

"The relocation project is due to report to the management board at the end of the month. Discussions with staff will take place as soon as possible afterwards."

Union officer Dean Rogers said: "ONS have certainly back-tracked over this.They have clearly been planning this for sometime, and staff confidence at Titchfield is at an all time low."

Earlier this year, the Daily Echo revealed that the Treasury believed that shutting the Titchfield offices would be too expensive. The costs would not be recouped for 60 years.