Asked by: John Cooper (Conservative - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the answer of 13 July 2026, to Question 18049, on Government Departments: Greater Manchester, and to the answer of 14 July 2026, to Question 14979, on Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Darlington, what was the average percentage attendance rate of assigned Arts Council staff at The Hive, 51 Lever St, Manchester M1 1FN in the most recent working week for which figures are available, expressed as a percentage of assigned staff attending the workplace and in absolute terms.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
Arts Council England has 350 staff assigned to The Hive, 51 Lever Street. In the most recent week for which working figures are available, 7 September 2026, attendance was reported at 59% of Manchester based staff, over the course of the week.
ACE offers hybrid working and does not mandate a fixed number of office days each week but does encourage in office days for training, team and away days. Due to the nature of their work, staff are also regularly meeting with artists and arts organisations.
Asked by: John Cooper (Conservative - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, pursuant to the answer of 13 July 2026, to Question 18049, on Government Departments: Greater Manchester, and to the answer of 14 July 2026, to Question 14979, on Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Darlington, what was the average percentage attendance rate of assigned ACAS staff at 3 Piccadilly Place 3 Piccadilly, Manchester M1 3BN in the most recent working week for which figures are available, expressed as a percentage of assigned staff attending the workplace and in absolute terms.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
Acas do not collect data in a way that enables us to determine the average percentage attendance rate for our estate. 162 staff are assigned to the Manchester office at 3 Piccadilly Place. During the period 7 to 11 September 2026 Acas recorded 96 attendance instances, but we cannot verify how many individuals that equates to. The current Acas office attendance expectation is that employees attend an Acas office, or undertake qualifying off-site work e.g. delivering off site training, for an average of 20% of their working time, subject to any agreed workplace adjustments or flexible working arrangements.
Asked by: John Cooper (Conservative - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, pursuant to the answer of 14 July 2026, to Question HL1905, on Department for Business and Trade: Buildings, and further to the Cabinet Office data, Monthly Average HQ Building Occupancy, what is the occupancy rate of the Old Admiralty Building expressed as a proportion of the assigned workforce attending the office rather than the proportion of desks occupied.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
The occupancy rate of the Old Admiralty Building based on the proportion of the assigned workforce attending the building is 21.6% (April 2026 – July 2026).
Working days at other non-home locations including other government offices, visiting businesses and attending meetings are not included. In July, 67% of Department for Business and Trade staff worked at least 40% of their time from an office or other work-related location.
Note that staff assigned to the Old Admiralty Building have the option of working from Caxton House, London. Accurate daily usage figures for Caxton House are not available and are excluded.
Asked by: John Cooper (Conservative - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the answer of 13 July 2026, to Question 18049, on Government Departments: Greater Manchester, and to the answer of 14 July 2026, to Question 14979, on Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Darlington, what was the average percentage attendance rate of assigned National Lottery Community Fund staff at (a) Rodwell Tower Piccadilly, Manchester M1 2HY and (b) The Hive, 51 Lever St, Manchester M1 1FN in the most recent working week for which figures are available, expressed as a percentage of assigned staff attending the workplace and in absolute terms.
Answered by Vicky Foxcroft - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The National Lottery Community Fund (‘TNLCF’) does not have any staff at Rodwell Tower Piccadilly.
TNLCF has 47 staff assigned to The Hive, 51 Lever Street. In the most recent working week for which figures were available, 21 desk bookings were recorded. This is equivalent to an average of 44.7% of the 47 assigned staff attending the local office during that week.
This figure is based on desk booking data, which is the only attendance measure currently captured. Meeting rooms at the site are also used but are not subject to the same data collection. Total attendance at the local office may, therefore, be higher than desk bookings alone suggest.
As a community funder, with an intentionally place-based and distributed workforce model, staff being assigned to an office does not equate to an expectation that they will attend five days a week. TNLCF encourages its staff to work within the communities they serve, to better connect with and understand the places that they work.