Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to encourage businesses to offer flexible working conditions to (a) improve productivity and (b) reduce transport congestion.

In June 2014 the Right to Request Flexible Working was extended to all employees with 26 weeks continuous service with their current employer. As part of this change, we made it easier for employers to consider requests for flexible working. The more onerous statutory procedure was replaced by a duty on employers to consider requests ‘in a reasonable manner’ – supported by a statutory Code of Practice and Acas guidance. Employers are now able to use their own informal processes for considering requests, as long as they can show that the way they considered the request was 'reasonable' in the circumstances.

Flexible working is good news for business and the economy as well as individual employees. It ensures employers have access to the widest possible pool of talent, and the ability to recruit and retain this talent helps make a contribution to the productivity of individual businesses and the economy generally.