The Treasury is looking to hire up to 70 former bankers who have lost their jobs in the credit crunch to bolster its expertise in dealing with the City.

The biggest expansion will be in the financial services department, which has already increased in size from 60 to about 120 staff.

However,  James Maplebeck, marketing manager at Public Sector Consultants told Recruiter that he doubted whether the initiative would prove succesful.

“The public sector and the private sector are diferent animals. We get CVs through all the time, and if they haven’t got public sector experience we tell them it is impossible to place them in the public sector,” he said.