The United Kingdom Public Service’s Chief Operating Officer says flexible and home-working options for Government workers are here to stay and the fact that flexibility had increased during the pandemic was “a huge positive”.
In comments that appear to fly in the face of demands by some Ministers and right-wing media outlets that workers should be forced back to the office, the Chief Operating Officer, Alex Chisholm (pictured) told Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee “we can move towards a greater number of people working more flexibly”.
Mr Chisholm said Members of Parliament on the committee would recall “how many times Civil Servants have felt it is difficult and expensive to have to bring everybody down to a meeting in London, face-to-face”.
“That is not necessary anywhere near to the same extent, as well as maintaining that expensive London real estate, so definitely some great opportunities are there,” Mr Chisholm said.
When asked how many Cabinet Office staff were working from the office, Mr Chisholm, who is also the Permanent Secretary of that Department, said the Office’s headquarters at 70 Whitehall were “pretty full” but that numbers would vary.
MPs quizzed Mr Chisholm on how Government was planning to reduce its reliance on consultants.
The Chief Operation Officer said efforts were underway to try and cut the external spend on consultants.
“Departments should only be using consultants where they are bringing some unique skills or are bringing particular knowledge that we don’t have and it wouldn’t be efficient for us to have in place,” he said.
Mr Chisholm acknowledged the high rates of spending brought about by the exit from the European Union (Brexit) and the COVID-19 crisis, but said this was now decreasing.
“The COVID task force is not using consultants at all now,” Mr Chisholm said.
London, 18 September 2021
