Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what proportion of staff in his Department did not meet the minimum office attendance target in the latest period for which data is available; and what sanctions his Department issues to staff who do not meet this target.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
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.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what proportion of staff in his Department have flexible working arrangements; and how many of those work compressed hours.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
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.
Currently, there are 289 employees formally working compressed hours.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether there are any requirements for civil servants to book a desk in advance in order to attend the office in person in each of (a) their Department's office workplaces and (b) the arm’s length bodies of their Department.
Answered by Feryal Clark
Civil servants who work in the Department’s office locations are asked to book a space to work from the office. In 16 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.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 25 October 2024 to Question 9826 on Department for Science, Innovation and Technology: Buildings, how many individual desks were occupied in her Department’s HQ office in the most recent four weeks for which figures are available; and how many staff assigned to that workplace attended the HQ office in person on average in the same period.
Answered by Feryal Clark
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 on a quarterly basis. The data is published here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-hq-occupancy-data
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 25 October 2024 to Question 9826 on Department for Science, Innovation and Technology: Buildings, how many civil servants are assigned to work in his Department's headquarters in London; and how many individual desks are available in the headquarters office.
Answered by Feryal Clark
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 5 November to Question 9825.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how many civil servants are assigned to work in each of his Department's offices; and how many desks are available in each office.
Answered by Feryal Clark
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:
Location | Headcount | Desks |
10 Victoria Street, London | 183 | 105 |
100 Parliament Street, London | 564 | 566 |
22 Whitehall, London | 972 | 204 |
3 Glass Wharf, Bristol | 9 | 5 |
Apex Court, Nottingham | 3 | 3 |
Atlantic Quay, Glasgow | 4 | 2 |
Citygate, Newcastle | 5 | 5 |
Companies House, Cardiff | 77 | 51 |
Erskine House, Belfast | 12 | 8 |
Feethams House, Darlington | 43 | 43 |
Foss House, York | 1 | 1 |
Mann Island, Liverpool | 2 | 2 |
Queen Elizabeth House, Edinburgh | 45 | 86 |
Rivergate House, Bristol | 16 | 30 |
St Pauls Place, Sheffield | 2 | 1 |
Trinity Bridge House, Salford | 207 | 233 |
Ty William Morgan House, Cardiff | 4 | 5 |
Victoria Square House, Birmingham | 82 | 78 |
Wellington Place, Leeds | 4 | 3 |
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how much was spent on (a) new furniture and fittings and (b) other refurbishment of Ministerial offices in his Department since the dissolution of the last Parliament; and on what items this was spent.
Answered by Feryal Clark
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.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how many and what proportion of desks were occupied in each of his Department’s offices in the most recent four weeks for which figures are available; and how many staff attended each office in person in the same period.
Answered by Feryal Clark
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