Cabinet Secretary Sir Chris Wormald, who was appointed by Sir Keir Starmer to “rewire” the way the British state works, told MPs that department leaders should always be considering appropriate ways of working that suit specific circumstances.
When asked if the current policy on homeworking would at least remain under review in response to “speedy and pressing challenges”, Sir Chris said: “No, we have set policy, and we intend to stick to it.
He asked Sir Chris if he “sees urgent merit in bringing people back into the office so that those new cross silo relationships can be forged, rather than trying to do it with a lot of civil servants continuing to work from home”.
Chair of the Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, Simon Hoare, described the announcement as amounting to “major changes in industrial production, almost sort of putting the whole nation on a war footing: procurement, extra expenditure, changes to overseas aid; that is going to have knock-on effects”.
There are no plans to review the current policy on working from home for civil servants in response to the urgency of major changes announced by the Prime Minister, the head of the civil service has confirmed.
