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<p>Average attendance at the London office has been monitered carefully be IPSA and
is calculated by working days in the calender month (and is only based on current
office-based staffing numbers (66)). This does not, however, include a number of IPSA
people based on home-base contracts who make regular journeys into the office, particularly
when based a short distance from the London region. It should be noted at the outset
too that the discovery and surge of the Omicron variant, which necessitated public
health advice to work from home, will have had an impact on the data from at least
last Autumn 2021 to Spring 2022. For nearly the entire time period requested in the
question, a significant number of desks were unavailable for use in the IPSA office
to maintain appropiate social distancing in the context of IPSA's office layout. As
only 32 of the possible 81 desks were available for use from 201 to the end of September
2022, this further materially reduced capacity within and attendance at the office.
Noting the desks available and the number of staff available on office-based contracts,
the general figures are below:</p><ul><li>October 2021: 9% (This should be read as
the average office-based contract employee spendin 9% of their working month in the
office in October 2021 and so on for the following months). This constituted 18% of
available desks.</li><li>November 2021: 9%. This constituted 20% of available desks.</li><li>December
2021: 7%. This constituted 15% of available desks.</li><li>January 2022: 5%. This
constituted 9% of available desks.</li><li>February 2022: 8%. This constituted 17%
of available desks.</li><li>March 2022: 7%. This constituted 14% of available desks.</li><li>April
2022: 8%. This constituted 16% of available desks.</li><li>May 2022: 8%. This constituted
16% of available desks.</li><li>June 2022: 6%. This constituted 13% of available desks.</li><li>July
2022: 7%. This constituted 14% of available desks.</li><li>August 2022: 6%. This constituted
13% of available desks.</li><li>September 2022: 7%. This constituted 14% of available
desks.</li><li>October 2022: now that all the desks are available for use, the desk
booking system upon which the data above is based is no longer operative, so this
figure cannot be produced.</li></ul><p>Like many organisations in the publice sector,
IPSA recognised many benefits for its people and performance in continuing with a
hybrid approach to work despite a lifting of formal coronavirus restrictions and other
government public health advice. IPSA functions, such as payroll accuracy and the
speed of reimbursement, have not been adversely impacted by such a model, and IPSA
has instead been able to build a more inclusive and diverse workforce based accross
the U.K. by bringing forward plans to create a more representative, hybrid, and flexibe
organisation to reflect the nations, regions and constituencies MPs serve. The geographical
spread of IPSA staff, new hybrid approach to working, and importance of value for
money for the public purse will be central considerations for IPSA when it explores
the locations and size of any office premises (in London or elsewhere) which it may
require in future to continue to discharge its statutory duties efficiently, cost-effectively,
and transparently.</p><p> </p>
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