Ashley Fox

Our Get Britain Working plan will support more disabled people and people with health conditions to enter work and stay in it. We will devolve power to local areas to join up work, health and skills support for local people.

The Attorney General’s Office is based in only one location in London, at 102 Petty France. I refer the Hon Member to the first line of my response to UIN 9602 tabled on Wednesday 6 November 2024. Please also refer to my response to UIN 9603 tabled on Friday 25 October 2024.

Heads of Department have agreed that 60% minimum office attendance for most staff continues to be the best balance of working for the Civil Service. Office occupancy data for the period July - September has been published, with further publications to now happen on a quarterly basis. The data is published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-hq-occupancy-data.

Following the dissolution of the last Parliament on 30 May 2024 and before the General Election on 4 July 2024, and prior to the appointment of the Attorney General and I, officials in the Attorney General’s Office arranged for the two ministerial offices to be modestly refurbished. The refurbishment was completed on 30 June 2024 and the costs are set out below.

For the period 2 to 27 September 2024, there were 54 civil servants assigned to work in the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) and 42 desks available.

The AGO superintends the Law Officers’ Departments: Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), Government Legal Department (GLD), HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI), and Serious Fraud Office (SFO). Further information on the Law Officers’ Departments is set out below.

As of 30 September 2024, the CPS had a headcount of 7,286 allocated against 4,347 desks.

The GLD has staff based in five sites across the country: 102 Petty France, London; 1 Ruskin Square, Croydon; 7-8 Wellington Place, Leeds; 2 Rivergate, Bristol; and Three New Bailey, Manchester.

For the period 2 to 27 September 2024, the table below shows a breakdown of the number of civil servants based in GLD offices and the number of desks in each office.

Please note that data for 102 Petty France, London, includes 10 HMCPSI staff, which share this office.

HMCPSI also shares office space with the CPS in Foss House, York. For the same period, HMCPSI had 10 civil servants assigned to work in Foss House.

As of 30 September 2024, the SFO had 534 permanent employees and 133 temporary agency workers, a total of 667 people. The total number of desks available is 432.

Heads of Department have agreed that 60% minimum office attendance for most staff continues to be the best balance of working for the Civil Service. Office occupancy data for the period July - September has been published, with further publications to happen on a quarterly basis. The data is published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-hq-occupancy-data

For management and staffing purposes the Prime Minister’s Office is a business unit of the Cabinet Office. No expenditure has been made since the dissolution of Parliament.

Heads of Department have agreed that 60% minimum office attendance for most staff continues to be the best balance of working for the Civil Service.

Office occupancy data for the period July - September has been published, with further publications to now happen on a quarterly basis. The data is published here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-hq-occupancy-data

I refer the (Rt.) Hon. Member to my response to question 9606, tabled on 16^th October 2024.

Please see below a summary of the number of staff assigned by each location and the number of desks per location as of 30th September 2024:

*We have several offices across the country that are listed under Regional Offices, it would exceed the word count if these were to be listed in totality.

Since the dissolution of the last Parliament, the Department for Business and Trade has not spent any money on:

a) new furniture or fittings for Minister’s offices or

b) other refurbishment of Ministerial offices

Heads of Department have agreed that 60% minimum office attendance for most staff continues to be the best balance of working for the Civil Service. Office occupancy data for the period July - September has been published today, with further publications to now happen on a quarterly basis. The data is published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-hq-occupancy-data

Please see below a summary of the number of staff assigned by each location and the number of desks per location as of 30^th September 2024:

*We have several offices across the country that are listed under Regional Offices, it would exceed the word count if these were to be listed in totality.

There are 571 desks in 55 Whitehall and 3-8 Whitehall Place. The average daily building attendance between week commencing 16 September through to week commencing 7 October was 900. The average number of daily building attendees exceeds the number of desks due to usage of meeting rooms and other parts of the building.

Figures are provided for the Department’s main London occupation at 55 Whitehall and 3-8 Whitehall Place only, which are two adjacent conjoined buildings, and the only office location where attendance figures enabling desk occupancy to be calculated are available, and which is occupied solely by the Department’s staff.

The Department is a customer of the Government Property Agency (GPA) at all its office locations. The office where the Department’s ministers are located is a GPA Hub building, where GPA is the landlord and building manager and the Department is a tenant. GPA is responsible for the fit out, furnishing and refurbishment of all office spaces, which includes ministerial offices.

The number of civil servants assigned to the Department’s office locations, and how many desks are available in each office location, are shown below:

Notes:

In all locations except 55 Whitehall and 3-8 Whitehall Place, London and Old Admiralty Building, London, the Department’s staff are located in shared spaces with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. The desk figures shown are for both Government departments.

The Government’s position is not to force anyone to rip out a working boiler and will incentivise moves to cleaner, affordable heating.

The Government has started delivery of the Warm Homes Plan, which will offer grants and low interest loans to support investment in insulation, heat pumps and other home improvements to cut bills.

More detail will be set out in due course.

Yes. The aim of Great British Energy’s Local Power Plan (LPP) is to support a more decentralised and resilient energy system, with more local generation and ownership. By doing so, we are giving communities a stake in the transition to net zero as owners and stakeholders in clean power projects. The LPP will support Local and Combined Authorities, and Community Energy Groups, which could include energy cooperative schemes, to roll out small and medium-scale renewable energy projects. The LPP will increase the capability and capacity of these groups to build a pipeline of successful projects in their local areas, including through commercial, technical and project-planning assistance.

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 5 November to Question 9825.

Heads of Department have agreed that 60% minimum office attendance for most

staff continues to be the best balance of working for the Civil Service. Office

occupancy data for the period July - September has been published, with further

publications to now happen on a quarterly basis. The data is published here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-hq-occupancy-data

The Department is a customer of the Government Property Agency (GPA) at all its office locations. The office where the Department’s ministers are located is a GPA building, where GPA is the landlord and building manager and the Department is a tenant. GPA is responsible for the fit out, furnishing and refurbishment of all office spaces, which includes ministerial offices.

The number of civil servants assigned to the Department’s office locations, and how many desks are available in each office location, are shown below:

I can confirm that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has not spent any money on new furniture and fittings or other refurbishment of Ministerial offices in her Department since the dissolution of the last Parliament.

Our most recently available figures are for the month of August. Our London HQ saw an average of 81% desk utilisation and 171 staff attending the office per day. In our secondary Manchester HQ desk utilisation was 74% for that same month. This gives an overall average of 78% usage across our primary headquarters.

Heads of department have agreed that 60% minimum office attendance for most staff continues to be the best balance of working for the Civil Service. Office occupancy data for the period July to September has been published, with further publications to happen on a quarterly basis. The data is published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-hq-occupancy-data.

I refer the hon. Member for Bridgewater to the answer of 20 November 2024 to Question 9067.

Heads of department have agreed that 60% minimum office attendance for most staff continues to be the best balance of working for the Civil Service. Office occupancy data for the period July to September has been published, with further publications to now happen on a quarterly basis. The data is published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-hq-occupancy-data.

Since the dissolution of the last Parliament, the only purchase relating to Ministerial furniture was at a cost of £1,627.50. This spend incorporates:

•  Low back, full upholstered meeting chair – Quantity 3.

There have been some modifications to the offices to facilitate additional flexibility in set up and use of the Ministerial rooms. This has been at a cost of £12,886.71. This spend incorporates:
•  Relocation of floor boxes including raising access floor.

•  Supply and install of cabling, sockets, data plates and residual current devices.

•  Standard Liability cover.

•  Labour.

•  Out of hours working.

The table below uses September’s HR workforce data, and includes all staff.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 15 November to Question 9616.

Heads of Department have agreed that 60% minimum office attendance for most staff continues to be the best balance of working for the Civil Service. Office occupancy data for the period July - September has been published, with further publications to now happen on a quarterly basis. The data is published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-hq-occupancy-data

The Government is committed to protecting human health and the environment. This Government has wasted no time in announcing a rapid review of the Environmental Improvement Plan to deliver on our legally binding targets to save nature and this includes how best to manage chemicals. Further details will be provided in due course.

Heads of Department have agreed that 60% minimum office attendance for most staff continues to be the best balance of working for the Civil Service. Office occupancy data for the period July - September has been published, with further publications to now happen on a quarterly basis. The data is published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-hq-occupancy-data

Attached is the data for how many Civil Servants are assigned to work in each departments office as of August 2024.

Below is the data for how many desks are available in policy hubs from October 2024. The reason we have only given this data, is that all other buildings are predominantly utilised by the Environment Agency. No Data is given for CEFAS or VMD, as we don’t hold that information

For the 4-week period from 7 October 2024 to 1 November 2024 a total of 21,710 desks were occupied in our London office against a maximum available desk capacity of 25,220.

In that same 4-week period 3,201 different Department for Transport staff attended our London office. It is not possible to determine how many staff assigned to our London building attended.

The information is not held by the Department for Transport in the form requested as the costs were included in consolidated invoices covering a range of building charges.

Since 5 July 2024 the Department has spent £2,490 on furniture and £1,095 on redecoration of Ministerial offices.

The Department for Transport is a federated organisation comprising a central department and 5 executive agencies. The information, where recorded, is contained in the attached document. Data is not recorded for Active Travel England, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency and the Vehicle Certification Agency.

The information requested is provided in the table below.

As of 31^st October 2024, there are 2,357 paid members of staff with Caxton House – London recorded as their place of work.

There are 1,050 desks allocated to DWP in Caxton House.

DWP has over 800 sites where staff are assigned. Gathering and collating data on staffing numbers and desks from each site would incur disproportionate costs.

Data regarding the number of staff attending each site is not held on our central system. Details are held at individual team level by line managers and as such we would have to contact all line managers for input. As the Department does not keep this information centrally, to provide it would incur disproportionate costs.

I can confirm that there has been nil investment on (a) new furniture and fittings and (b) other refurbishment of Ministerial Offices for the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions since the dissolution of the last Parliament.