Ashley Fox

The data requested is not held centrally. The Office for Equality and Opportunity is not a standalone department, and Ministerial offices are located across various Government departments.

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 have 10 people on flexible working arrangements which represents 17.24% of the workforce. Of these 8 are on a compressed hours arrangement.

On 24 October 2024 the Cabinet Office announced that 60% minimum office attendance for most staff continues to be the best balance of working for the Civil Service. Senior managers will continue to be expected to be in the office more than 60% of the time.

If people do not meet that reasonable expectation, as with any management instruction it will be dealt with via existing performance management processes and ultimately with disciplinary action should there be sustained failure to comply.

Published data on office attendance for 102 Petty France is available https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-headquarters-occupancy-data.

No. There are not any requirements for Attorney General's Office staff to book a desk in advance in order to attend the office in person.

The Government Legal Department (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. GLD staff in each of these locations are expected to book a desk using the dedicated desk booking system; client-based legal teams follow local protocols.

HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate books desks for staff attending both their offices through systems run by the GLD for London and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (as the major occupier) for the York office.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has staff based in 37 sites across the country, a full list of which is annexed to this answer. CPS staff in each of these locations are expected to book a desk using the dedicated desk booking system; client-based legal teams follow local protocols.

Staff at the Serious Fraud Office are not required to book a desk in advance to attend the office.

The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) is based in one location in London, at 102 Petty France. For the period 28 October to 22 November 2024, an average of 27 desks were occupied. For the same period, 57 civil servants were assigned to work at the AGO and on average 27 members of staff attended the office in person at any one time (this figure does not take account of annual leave, sickness, attending training or other government buildings).

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.

As many flexible working arrangements, including compressed hours working, are agreed and recorded at a team level, the information requested can only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Central data on Civil Service Headquarters (HQ) occupancy is collected and published quarterly on GOV.UK for all HQ buildings of Whitehall Departments.

In Cabinet Office, Line Managers are expected to be aware of, and ensure compliance with, the minimum 60% attendance expectation for their direct reports. Data on workforce attendance is not collated centrally by the department.

Where employees fail to reach or maintain expected attendance levels, beyond what is agreed with their line manager as part of workplace adjustments or caring responsibilities, due consideration is given as to whether it is reasonable to take disciplinary action. The level of sanction will be dependent upon the individual circumstances of the case.

Cabinet Office staff are encouraged to book desks, but it is not mandatory.

Similarly, of the Cabinet Office's arm's length bodies that directly employ their own staff, none mandate booking a desk in order to attend the office in person.

All furniture and AV equipment has been, and must be, sourced from the GPA's Approved Supplier's catalogue.

An itemised breakdown of spending is as follows (all costs are excluding VAT unless otherwise specified):

Furniture for existing Ministerial Offices:

• Chairs x 6 - £7,384

Two of the chairs are in use within the Secretary of State's office and the other four are used in other areas of the office.

Furniture for new Ministerial Offices:

• Height adjustable desk - £1,566
• Armchair - £1,033
• Meeting Chairs x 14 - £12,964
• Furniture to house AudioAV equipment - £4,158.42
• Delivery, installation and dismantling and re-positioning of existing furniture - £1602.07 (including VAT)

The number of Ministers in DESNZ increased by one following the general election, the result of which was a higher than usual spend to facilitate the creation of an additional office.

Cost of Other Refurbishment of Ministerial Offices including moves:

• Porterage for over 5 days and rental of crates for 90 days - £13,387.93
• Floor power alterations within the Ministerial Office, their Private Office and Waiting Room - £2,241.24

Porterage was carried out between 5-15 July. All other work was commissioned on, or after, 15 July and completed by, or before, 19 October.

The Floor Power Alterations were to install additional power boxes within the floor due to the increased space utilisation. Please note this item was not correctly identified and included in the response to PQ UIN 12890.

All furniture and AV equipment has been, and must be, sourced from the GPA's Approved Supplier's catalogue.

An itemised breakdown of spending is as follows (all costs are excluding VAT unless otherwise specified):

Furniture for existing Ministerial Offices:

• Chairs x 6 - £7,384

Two of the chairs are in use within the Secretary of State's office and the other four are used in other areas of the office.

Furniture for new Ministerial Offices:

• Height adjustable desk - £1,566
• Armchair - £1,033
• Meeting Chairs x 14 - £12,964
• Furniture to house AudioAV equipment - £4,158.42
• Delivery, installation and dismantling and re-positioning of existing furniture - £1602.07 (including VAT)

The number of Ministers in DESNZ increased by one following the general election, the result of which was a higher than usual spend to facilitate the creation of an additional office.

Cost of Other Refurbishment of Ministerial Offices including moves:

• Porterage for over 5 days and rental of crates for 90 days - £13,387.93
• Floor power alterations within the Ministerial Office, their Private Office and Waiting Room - £2,241.24

Porterage was carried out between 5-15 July. All other work was commissioned on, or after, 15 July and completed by, or before, 19 October.

The Floor Power Alterations were to install additional power boxes within the floor due to the increased space utilisation. Please note this item was not correctly identified and included in the response to PQ UIN 12890.

The Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan sets out how government is supporting industry to develop a highly skilled workforce for the future. Measures include the £182 million Engineering Skills Package which will fund Technical Excellence Colleges including four in Advanced Manufacturing, £47 million to fund engineering skills for adults and £2 million to increase the number of engineering T Levels.

Through the Battery Innovation Programme, the Department directly supports skills centres in the Northeast, Midlands and the South West to develop a pipeline of skilled technicians for the UK’s battery electric vehicle supply chain.

The government is continuing to progress the review into the right to time off work for public duties. The main evidence-gathering and analysis stages of the review have been completed. I will consider findings of the review, including that of special constables, in the first half of this year and subsequently publish before 18 December 2026. We are grateful to officials from across government for providing evidence in support of this review and we will continue to engage as the review and any subsequent steps progress.

It is still ongoing and will conclude when an agreement can be reached that benefits both the UK and Morocco.

Since the UK-Morocco Association Agreement entered into force in 2021, bilateral trade has been rising and reached £4.6 billion in the 12 months to the end of June 2025, an increase of 18.8% or £730 million in current prices, from the previous 12 months. The Agreement underpins bilateral political, economic and social cooperation and facilitates bilateral trade. The UK held the third Association Council meeting on 12 November, reaffirming commitments to deepen trade, investment, and collaboration on education, renewable energy, and security, in line with the step-change in relations following June’s bilateral strategic dialogue.

Government is committed to improving the business environment for the recycled plastic industry. This includes support for eligible firms through the Energy Intensive Industry relief schemes, depending on scheme eligibility criteria and firm levels of electricity usage. Other mechanisms include the market-based Packaging Waste Recycling Notes (PRN) system that provides direct funding to the reprocessing sector.

DEFRA’s collection and packaging reforms will also stimulate investment in recycling services and provide feedstock certainty, and while we cannot endorse individual technologies, Government have a range of funding sources available to support innovative and emerging technologies within this space through Innovate UK.

This government is committed to ensuring that the UK has the skilled workforce required to deliver the civil and defence nuclear programmes through the Nuclear Skills Plan – a collaborative effort between government, industry, and academia – delivering targeted action to address skills gaps and secure the UK’s nuclear workforce.

The Department is supporting delivery of the Nuclear Skills Plan, including through Nuclear Skills Hubs which tailor national initiatives to meet regional needs.

Nuclear Skills Hubs have been established in the North West, the South West, the Midlands and Scotland.

Last week (13 March 2026) the government announced a £65.6m investment to train over 500 doctoral students at universities across the country over 4 cohorts starting next academic year, quadrupling today’s intake.

Individual projects are making important contributions to local and national skills bases. Sizewell C has plans to create 1500 apprentices during construction – including 540 from the local area – and to build a new College on the Coast in Leiston. EDF reports that Hinkley Point C has trained 1700 apprentices to date, with the majority of these coming from the South West, and has invested £24m in education, skills and employment.

The Department’s flexible working policy sets out the types of formal and informal flexible working available to our employees.

All eligible employees have a statutory right to request flexible working arrangements, including, for example, part time working and compressed hours.

In addition, some informal flexible working arrangements within the parameters of the policy are managed locally. Central information on the proportion of Departmental employees with flexible working arrangements is therefore not held.

Employees are expected to spend a minimum of 40% of their working hours in the office. Office attendance requirements are managed locally to ensure employees are meeting the requirements, and no central data is held on this.

Line Managers are responsible for ensuring the requirements are met and taking steps to address any non-compliance, including consideration of disciplinary action should that be necessary.

Civil servants who work in the Department’s office locations are asked to book a space to work from the office. In 12 buildings this is a booking for a specific desk, and in 3 buildings it is for an unspecified working space on a particular floor within the building.

Desk booking services for arm’s-length bodies within the Department are not centrally held, and would come at disproportionate cost to the Department in producing this information.