Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Twycross on 12 August (HL426), whether the Ministry of Justice has received such representations from the Public and Commercial Services Union; and what was their response.

Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Public and Commercial Services Union has not made any representations to the Ministry of Justice regarding this motion and therefore no response was given.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Twycross on 7 August (HL346), whether this clothing policy applies to all staff in the Department for Work and Pensions.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The DWP’s standards of behaviour statement requires employees to dress in a professional and business-like way. Professional and business-like has a normal, everyday meaning.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Twycross on 13 August 2024 (HL548), what is their policy on full-time civil servants working a four-day week on full-pay; and whether the ‘right to switch off’ will apply to civil servants on their fallow workday when working a four-day week.

Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

Departments are responsible for setting the terms and conditions of employment for their civil servants, in accordance with the rules of the Civil Service Management Code. Full time employees across the Civil Service generally work 42 hours gross (37 hours net) per week over 5 days. Some departments may have flexible working policies that allow employees to request compressed hours, where the same hours are worked, only compressed over a shorter period, with no change to pay. There are no flexible working arrangements that permit reduced hours or part time working in exchange for full time pay.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Twycross on 13 August 2024 (HL548),  what is their policy on how often civil servants should work in the office rather than remotely.

Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

Current Civil Service guidance requires Civil Servants to attend the office or work face-to-face with colleagues at least 60% of the time. There are no plans to change those requirements.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer of Baroness Twycross on 13 August (HL548), whether further headquarters occupancy data have been collated since the end of general election purdah; what guidance they have given to the Civil Service on whether such data should continue to be collected and published; and whether they will place in the Library of the House any collated but unpublished data for the period since the election.

Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The publication of this data was suspended in line with pre-election guidance for the duration of the Pre-Election Period. We will provide an update on future publication plans in due course.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Twycross on 13 August 2024 (HL548), what equivalent occupancy data has been compiled since the general election; and whether they will place all post-election data that is held for each department in the Library of the House.

Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The publication of this data was suspended in line with pre-election guidance for the duration of the Pre-Election Period. We will provide an update on future publication plans in due course.