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Written question asked by David Laws (Liberal Democrat) on Thursday, 22 January 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 26 January 2009. It was answered by Angela Eagle (Labour) on Wednesday, 29 April 2009 on behalf of the Treasury.

Departmental Working Hours

Question
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what the policy of his Department and its agencies is on granting staff time off in lieu for working (a) in lunch breaks, (b) in evenings and (c) at other times outside contracted working hours; and if he will make a statement;
Answer

The matter of granting time off in lieu is delegated to Departments and their agencies to determine. There are no central rules governing the use of time off in lieu. HMT, Office of Government Commerce and OGC buying.solutions operate schemes agreed at team level by individual managers. The same broad principles apply across the schemes: "Time off in lieu may not be claimed during a mandatory minimum lunch break period of 30-minutes each day" "Time off in lieu is the preferred compensation for additional work done at other times outside contracted hours; such as in the evening or at weekends." "Where it is not possible to take time off in lieu, staff may claim overtime with the approval of a manager" The Debt Management Office has no formal policy for granting time off in lieu however, in line with the Department and its other agencies, overtime approved in advance may be claimed for work done outside contracted hours. With the exception of OGC buying.solutions, HMT and its agencies do not record the total number of days of time off in lieu granted each year. These records are held within teams by individual managers and there would be a disproportionate cost in collating this information. OGC buying.solutions confirms that 76-days of time off in lieu were granted during the last year. This information was retrieved from the time-recording management information system used by OGC b.s. This software is not used by HMT or its other agencies.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
491 c1345W; 252009
Session
2008-09
Subjects
Working hours Treasury
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk