To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (1) how many and what percentage of staff of his Department, its executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies work flexibly or part-time; and what his Department's policy is on making jobs available on a job-share or flexible basis; (301335)

Currently, there are 416 staff in Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) who have chosen to work part-time which represents 10.8 per cent. of staff.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) was created in June from the former Department for Innovation for Universities and Skills (DIUS) and former Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR). Workforce data are currently being amalgamated. We do not have full flexible working data for former DIUS staff, but for former BERR staff it is estimated that 1309 members of staff work flexibly, representing 42.8 per cent. of former BERR staff.

This information does not include executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies. Chief executives of our executive agencies will respond to you directly. The Department offers a wide range of flexible working options to support our staff such as part-time working, home working, condensed hours, flexi-time and annualised hours. The Remote computer access and remote telephony options are also available to staff, to help them to work flexibly.

Job-sharing is a way of widening the talent pool and recruiting the best staff. In BIS, we held a job-share and part-time workshop in July, to encourage more managers and staff to consider job share or part-time arrangements. The workshop was attended by over sixty managers and staff. We also highlighted the Cabinet Office job share website:

http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/news/2009/june/job-share.aspx

We continue to promote job-sharing and job vacancies must explicitly address the scope for flexible working opportunities in posts and state that applications are welcomed from candidates with part-time, job-share or other flexible working arrangements.

Letter from Stephen Speed, dated 9^th December 2009:

The Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has asked me to reply to your question how many and what percentage of staff of his Department, its executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies work flexibly or part-time; and what his Department's policy is on making jobs available on a job-share or flexible basis.

As at 19/11/2009, we have the following numbers of staff who are working flexible working patterns:

We also offer our staff flexi-time, but we do not record centrally the numbers of staff that use this working pattern. We also do not hold records centrally of the number of staff that job share. Job sharers are included in the table as part-time workers.

Recruitment Policy for Flexible Working

The Insolvency Service strongly encourages opportunities for part-time, job share and other flexible working arrangements. When advertising posts, recruiting managers are not able to specify a specific working pattern e.g. full-time, part-time etc, unless a business case has been made through a relevant Director, and agreed by Human Resources. Applicants are not required to indicate their current or proposed working pattern. It is only at the point where an applicant is contacted to be offered the job that a recruiting manager will discuss with the applicant the proposed working pattern.

Recruiting managers are encouraged to accommodate all working patterns, but where there is any doubt on whether a working pattern can be accommodated, the applicant needs to discuss the proposals with their line-manager to establish what options are available to accommodate the pattern. Where the pattern cannot be accommodated, the recruiting manager provides the applicant with written objective justification for the decision.

Letter from Peter Mason, dated 26 November 2009:

I am responding in respect of the National Measurement Office (formerly National Weights and Measures Laboratory) to your Parliamentary Question tabled on 19/11/2009 [reference 301335 ] to the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, asking how many and what percentage of staff of his Department, its executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies work flexibly or part-time.

The National Measurement Office employs 65 members of staff, of whom 9 (13.9%) work part time and 5 (7.7%) have a home working contract. Statutory provisions have been extended to all staff in line with our equality policy and all staff have access to flexitime working and other flexible working patterns. When posts are advertised each one is considered for various flexible working arrangements according to the business needs of the Agency.

Letter from Sean Dennehey, dated 24 November 2009:

I am responding in respect of the Intellectual Property Office to your Parliamentary Question tabled 19 November 2009, to the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO), an Executive Agency of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, currently has 153 part-time staff, representing 17% of its workforce. The IPO has 72 staff who work from home (representing 8% of the workforce) of which, 17 are part-time.

Other forms of flexible working are available to all IPO staff, including annualised hours, term-time working, job-sharing and compressed hours. Staff are able to manage their work-life balance effectively on a daily basis within a normal bandwidth of 7am to 7pm.

The IPO's flexible working policy is published to all staff via its intranet and sets out its commitment to providing the widest possible range of working patterns for staff. Applications to work flexibly are invited from staff and considered on an individual basis. All vacancies are advertised as open to job share and part-time working.

Letter from Tim Moss, dated December 2009:

I am replying on behalf of Companies House to your Parliamentary Question tabled 19 November 2009, UIN 301335, to the Minister of State for Business, Innovation and Skills.

The majority of Companies House staff work their contracted hours through a flexi system which means they can work flexibly around core hours. 313 members of staff, equating to 26.7% of the workforce, work on a part-time basis.

All jobs are available on a job share or part-time basis.