To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of his Department’s and its predecessors’ senior civil service staff had flexible working arrangements in each year since 1997. (200557)

Flexi-time working arrangements do not apply to senior civil service staff. However, they can work flexibly in terms of working patterns and working from home.

Data are only held on my Department and not predecessor departments. Currently, there around 11 per cent. of senior civil service staff (12 out of 114) who work part-time and a number also work from home occasionally through remote access to our IT systems. Information on home working is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.