Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of taking steps to increase the number of civil servants working from the office.

Research into workplace practices across all sectors was undertaken which confirmed the clear benefits of face to face, workplace based collaborative working, which led to agreement across government for such an approach. That's why I set out the expectation for staff to be in the office at least 60% of the time, and I believe that our senior civil servants need to set an example as leaders.

There are significant benefits from spending time working together in person, either within teams, with colleagues from the same department or – in Government hubs – with colleagues from other departments. These include collaboration, innovation and fostering a sense of community. We know that in particular junior colleagues benefit from having time face to face with senior leaders and that those early in their careers find working face to face with their peers and managers makes them more effective more quickly.