Source · Select Committees · Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Recommendation 7
7
Accepted
Paragraph: 62
Government Property Agency's planning hindered by unclear civil service workforce policies
Conclusion
In order to do its job effectively, the Government Property Agency needs good quality workforce plans from departments, enabling it to plan for the right size and location of government offices. This has been made more difficult by uncertainties resulting from government policy and communications. On the amount of time civil servants should work in the office (which thus affects the demand for office space), high-profile statements from Ministers have been at odds with key policy Where Civil Servants Work: Planning for the future of the Government’s estates 49 programmes. Meanwhile, the Government has made sudden and unclear statements about the size of the civil service, most recently stating both that it had scrapped targets for headcount reductions and that it was still committed to achieving the same scale of cuts but clarifying neither how this was to be achieved nor over what timescale.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government commits to publishing relevant programme documentation for Places for Growth and the Plan for London.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
62
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government · verbatim extract
Accepted
36. The Government has been consistent that civil servants should be in the office where needed to drive delivery and to meet their contractual obligations. Within that context, specific decisions on where and when employees work are made locally by departments, based on their business needs, delivery requirements and the nature of specific roles. As departments are individual employers, they set out their employees’ terms and conditions, including flexible working policies. This position has been communicated regularly through public statements, correspondence, and Parliamentary questions.
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