3. Will the Commission make a statement regarding flexible working practices available to Commission staff? OAQ52925

Thank you for the question. The Commission offers a wide range of flexible working policies, and that means that our staff at all levels are utilising both formal and informal flexible working arrangements. And these policies have contributed to the Assembly being recognised as one of the top 30 employers for working families in the UK.

Thank you very much for that answer, Joyce Watson, and I'm sure we'll all be very proud of that recognition and we would want to continue this institution's reputation as one of the best family-friendly employers.

One of the consequences, as you will know, historically, is that women taking flexible working practices have faced issues in terms of promotion. I would be very surprised if that were the case here. However, it has been the case in Scandinavian countries, for example, that where equal opportunities are offered and men and women start to take up flexible working practices, it can be the case that men end up being discriminated against because, somehow, it's more culturally acceptable for a woman to work shorter hours because she needs to spend time with her children than it is for a man to make a similar decision.

Now, I'm not suggesting for a moment that that would be happening here, but can I ask if the Commission will consider looking at the sex balance between men and women in terms of who is taking up those flexible working practices? And I would imagine that we are probably doing better than many employers and that we probably have got more male staff taking those opportunities. But could you also take a look at what levels those people are and whether, over time, there is any effect on people's career progression, men or women, if they choose to take flexible working practices? I'm not suggesting that this is the case, but having seem some evidence from elsewhere, I think that we would want to be sure that we avoided any unintended consequences from what is, in itself, very good practice. 

You're absolutely right, we wouldn't want to create a situation that had unintended consequences, ether for workers' progression or for the gender of those of those feeling that they are comfortable taking up the opportunity of flexible working.

Now, we do have some figures that tell us that—. Our latest diversity and inclusion annual report shows that 20 per cent of staff have formal arrangements. And that's the formal arrangements to work part time. And of those, it's 30 per cent of women and 10 per cent of men, across all grades, whatever those are. Fourteen per cent of our top three grades—that's executive bands 2 and 1 and the senior staff—also have formal agreements to work part time. It is spread across all other grades as well.

What we don't have, and I think we need to put our hand up here, is the information on the informal agreements, because there are a number of informal agreements that people accept through their line managers, and we don't keep the information on that, which would add to this picture that I've just described. So, I'm quite happy to take this back to the Commission on your behalf and see if we can incorporate more cohesively and comprehensively the data that you require. There is no suggestion at all—for anybody who is accepting flexible working, however that is, whether it's part-time working, working at home or compressed hours—that that is actually affecting their status within the organisation. But, again, without fully gathering all of that information, we can't be 100 per cent certain, and I think that's where we would like to be. I thank you for your question.

Thank you very much.