Cabinet Office written question – answered at on 13 August 2024.
Lord Udny-Lister
Conservative
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the most recent headquarters occupancy data for each Government department across each week in the last month for which figures are available.
Baroness Twycross
Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip), Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The latest headquarters occupancy data for each Government department is available publicly on gov.uk, and is set out below. The publication of this data was suspended in line with pre-election guidance for the duration of the Pre-Election Period.
Departmental HQ | Building | w/c 6th May | w/c 13th May | w/c 20th May |
Cabinet Office | 70 Whitehall | 85% | 93% | 90% |
Department for Business and Trade | Old Admiralty Building | 76% | 84% | 78% |
Department for Culture, Media and Sport | 100 Parliament Street | 61% | 63% | 66% |
Department for Education | Sanctuary Buildings | 69% | 78% | 80% |
3-8 Whitehall Place/55 Whitehall | 82% | 100% | 100% | |
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | 2 Marsham Street | 58% | 82% | 81% |
Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities | 2 Marsham Street | 71% | 78% | 73% |
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology | 1 Victoria Street | no data | no data | no data |
Department for Transport | Great Minster House | 85% | 89% | 82% |
Department for Work and Pensions | Caxton House | 58% | 69% | 66% |
Department of Health and Social Care | 39 Victoria Street | 68% | 67% | 72% |
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office | King Charles Street | 67% | 74% | 71% |
HM Revenue and Customs | 100 Parliament Street | 53% | 66% | 60% |
HM Treasury | 1 Horse Guards | 63% | 66% | 63% |
Home Office | 2 Marsham Street | 78% | 88% | 86% |
Ministry of Defence | MOD Main Building | 81% | 91% | 87% |
Ministry of Justice | 102 Petty France | 66% | 85% | 78% |
1 HG/Erskine House | 66% | 71% | 69% | |
Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland | 53% | 81% | 71% | |
Office of the Secretary of State for Wales | 53% | 56% | 66% |
Yes4 people think so
No3 people think not
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The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
Whitehall is a wide road that runs through the heart of Westminster, starting at Trafalgar square and ending at Parliament. It is most often found in Hansard as a way of referring to the combined mass of central government departments, although many of them no longer have buildings on Whitehall itself.
