§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many and what proportion of the staff of her Department are(a) job sharing, (b) term working and (c) engaged in another form of flexible working. [42432]
§ Mr. MorleyOf those employed in my Department, 83 are job sharing (1.03 per cent.) and 14 are block ("term") working (0.17 per cent.). A total of 724 work part-time (8.96 per cent.) and 80 are on unpaid leave (0.99 per cent.).
The Department also operates a flexible working hours scheme. This allows an individual to play a full part at work while enabling them to arrange their working hours to fit in with social and domestic arrangements. It also allows line managers to deal sympathetically with any requests for time off if the individual has particular needs.
Energy expenditure by Government Departments—as published in Green Ministers reports £ 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 MAFF 1,607,392 1,196,306 1,270,719 1,155,485 MAFF Labs 1,195,120 2,010,656 1,877,991 1,880,441 Cabinet Office 723,587 693,234 717,622 767,895 DCMS 82,888 121,916 106,634 122,991 HM Customs and Excise 3,476,954 2,414,356 2,370,071 2,431,032 DfEE 1,337,963 1,347,403 1,056,810 1,111,660 Employment Service 5,341,147 4,848,133 4,946,793 4,960,622 DETR 4,095,629 4,099,099 3,993,520 3,473,024 Health and Safety Executive 667,458 668,883 582,679 570,336 QE2 Conference Centre 291,715 347,200 324,614 305,739 FCO 920,989 990,362 921,380 1,033,203 DoH 722,641 738,355 786,383 758,908 Home Office 2,051,873 1,792,543 1,911,139 2,378,335 HM Prison Service 24,257,826 23,868,557 20,016,907 22,310,050 Inland Revenue 8,256,246 8,192,613 8,138,451 8,772,679 DfID 212,935 225,513 209,602 183,574 Lord Chancellors Department 5,301,610 5,258,187 5,282,774 5,021,175 DSS 15,684,969 13,805,000 11,474,213 11,327,417 DTI 2,250,288 2,312,915 1,847,819 2,117,249 HM Treasury 612,651 336,547 316,314 337,396 Note:
In a few cases figures were revised from one report to another. The figures here are the latest published.
266WIt is departmental policy, as an equal opportunity employer, to meet requests for all types of flexible working wherever the nature of the work allows. This includes: maternity, paternity and parental leave (over and above legal requirements); flexible working hours; part-time work and job sharing; leave to care for sick children/carer's leave; home-working; term-time contracts; annual hours contracts; child care allowances; career break schemes; paid/unpaid leave. The flexibility of the working pattern is decided in conjunction with local management to suit an individual's need and the needs of their work. Managers are encouraged to welcome applications from people working different patterns, where the nature of work allows.
The Department sees flexible working arrangements as important in the promotion of diversity and equal opportunities policies, in the recruitment and retention of staff and for the creation of a better work/life balance.