Flexible Working Practices

Part of 3. Questions to the Assembly Commission – in the Senedd at 3:19 pm on 14 November 2018.

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Photo of Joyce Watson Joyce Watson Labour 3:19, 14 November 2018

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.