Departmental Home Working

Bob Spink
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 3 July 2008, Official Report, column 1028W, on departmental home working, if he will make it his policy to collate and maintain central records of home working by his Department's staff.

Mrs. McGuire
DWP employees may work from home in two categories:

(a) On an ad hoc basis under our flexible working framework; and

(b) Permanently, on a contractual basis.

Statistical data are not collected about ad hoc home working arrangements, managers may exercise discretion and authorise ad hoc home working for a variety of reasons.

Details of contractual home workers are held on individual clerical records. To extract these data would be at disproportionate cost.

The Department has no plans to collate and maintain central records of employees home working.