More than a third of desks in Whitehall still empty

MORE than a third of desks are empty in most Whitehall departments, the latest figures show.

Cabinet Office data shows that 15 out of 19 government departments were less than two-thirds full the week before last.

In the headquarters of the Foreign Office, the department with the worst record, occupancy was at just 35 per cent on average over the week.

HMRC, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Home Office – which is responsible for the Ukraine refugee scheme – were all half empty.

And, with summer holidays now under way, the proportion of empty chairs in Whitehall headquarters has risen in some offices compared with a month earlier.

Working from home has become embedded in offices across the country despite the risks from Covid fading after the success of Britain’s vaccine programme.

Tory MPs and ministers have demanded that civil servants should return to the office to halt the decline in the quality of public services.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, the minister for government efficiency, has fought in vain with senior mandarins to get Whitehall officials back to work.

But government bodies quietly agreed to ‘hybrid’ working policies this year that only require staff to be present two days a week. Yesterday Mr Rees-Mogg said: ‘Whitehall remains ghostly while British taxpayers wait on new passports and driving licences. Though a dip over the summer might be expected, our voters do not expect mandarins to be absent without leave. Government must continue. It does not work from home.’

But Civil Service head Simon Case said ‘hybrid working has been part of the way the civil service works for a decade’.