Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department permits civil servants employed in the UK to work from overseas on a regular basis.

The Ministry of Justice uses the term international remote working (IRW) to describe working remotely outside the UK. IRW is defined as when an employee wants to undertake the full responsibilities of their role remotely from abroad, for a short-term and fixed period. It is different to official travel, and personal travel with access to Ministry of Justice devices/information assets for occasional and business critical reasons.

The Ministry of Justice IRW policy states that employees may request to work their full responsibilities from abroad in exceptional circumstances, for example, supporting a family member overseas who needs urgent and immediate help. Such arrangements may be approved for a maximum of 30 calendar days in a rolling 12-month period. Applications are considered on a case-by-case basis and subject to a rigorous approval process.

The Ministry of Justice has delegated responsibility for these decisions and complies with FCDO and other relevant regulatory requirements when considering requests from employees to work temporarily overseas.