Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the compliance of her Department's staff working from home with the Working Time Regulations 1998.

FCDO continues to apply the policies that were in place prior to the pandemic in regard to working time. Staff have contracted hours which do not exceed the limit specified in the Working Time Regulations 1998. Staff working from home are required to work their contracted hours as if they were attending a workplace. The policy includes provision for 'time off in lieu' to be authorised for any ad-hoc instances where staff have been required to work over their contracted hours for business reasons. Each employee's contracted hours are recorded on FCDO's payroll systems and ensuring staff work their contracted hours, and are not routinely working beyond this, is part of the role of the line manager.