§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the extent of job sharing in his Department. [90862]
§ Mr. LeslieApproximately 7.8 per cent. of staff in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister Central work part-time. Information specifically on job sharers is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Job sharing forms just one strand of a range of possible alternative and flexible working arrangements. Under Office of the Deputy Prime Minister central posting arrangements, all posts are open to part-time workers or job sharers. In very exceptional cases where line managers consider that a post cannot be filled on a part-time/job share basis, they must make a case to Human Resources setting out compelling reasons for this.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, in conjunction with the Department for Transport, supports a part-time workers network.
The executive agencies of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister agencies, in almost all cases, also operate a policy of advertising all posts as open to part-time workers or job sharers. All operate a range of flexible working options.