The new Labour government has yet to decide whether existing guidance on civil service home working will stay in place, a minister has said.
Responding to a written question asking what the government’s policy is on home working across the civil service, junior Cabinet Office minister Georgia Gould said: “The government's entire focus is on the work of delivering change. The government has not yet reviewed existing guidance on home working.
"We will support the civil service with the necessary tools to ensure it can deliver that change.”
Gould was responding to a question from Richard Holden, who was a minister in the Cabinet Office for seven months under the previous Conservative administration, up until the election.
"The government is committed to supporting individuals and businesses to work in ways that best suit their particular circumstances and whilst terms and conditions relating to hours of work are delegated to departments as individual employers, the civil service must ensure that it provides value for money for the public," she added.
Shortly before the 4 July general election, Jonathan Ashworth – then shadow paymaster general – suggested that his party would continue to expect civil servants to spend more of their time in the office.
Asked at a press conference if he would remove the requirement brought in by Rishi Sunak’s government that civil servants spend 60% of their week in the office, he said: "We want to see civil servants in the office."
Ashworth, who lost his seat at the election, added that it was “sensible that civil servants are in the office and at their desks” and that he was confident that the “impartial civil service” would want to “turn their mind to that agenda as well”.
Gould was also asked whether ministers plan to reduce the size of the civil service.
Answering a question from former Cabinet Office minister John Glen on the subject, she said: "Decisions on the future size of the civil service will form a key part of the next comprehensive spending review.
"Therefore, a proper and full consideration will be given to this in due course, and the Cabinet Office will work closely with HM Treasury on the development of these plans."
Reeves, now chancellor, confirmed last month that she had scrapped her predecessor Jeremy Hunt's target to shrink the civil service headcount to its pre-pandemic size, which would have required around 70,000 job cuts.